Purple Finch. 



SPRING AT THE CAPITAL. 



WITH AN EYE TO THE BIRDS. 



I CAME to Washington to live in the fall of 1863, 

 and, With the exception of a month each summei 

 spent in the interior of New York, have lived here 

 ever since. 



I saw my first novelty in Natural History the day 

 after my arrival. As I was walking near some woods 

 north of the city, a grasshopper of prodigious size 

 flew up from the ground and alighted in a tree. As 

 I pursued him, he proved to be nearly as wild and as 

 fleet of wing as a bird. I thought I had reached the 

 capital of grasshopperdom, and that this was perhaps 

 one of the chiefs or leaders, or perhaps the great High 

 Cock O'lorum himself, taking an airing in the fields 



