SPRING AT THE CAPITAL. 161 



mer yellow-bird is conspicuous. He comes about the 

 middle of April, and seems particularly attached to 

 the silver poplars. In every street, and all day long, 

 one may hear his thin, sharp warble. When nesting 

 the female comes about the yard, pecking at the 

 clothes-line, and gathering up bits of thread to weave 

 into her nest. 



Swallows appear in Washington from the first to 

 the middle of April. They come twittering along in 

 the way so familiar to every New England boy. 

 The barn swallow is heard first, followed in a day or 

 two by the squeaking of the cliff-swallow. The 

 chimney-swallows, or swifts, are not far behind, and 

 remain here, in large numbers, the whole season. 

 The purple martins appear in April, as they pass 

 north, and again in July and August on their return, 

 accompanied by their young. 



The national capital is situated in such a vast 

 spread of wild, wooded, or semi-cultivated country, 

 and is in itself so open and spacious, with its parks 

 and large government reservations, that an unusual 

 number of birds find their way into it in the course 

 of the season. Rare warblers, as the black-poll, the 

 yellow red-poll, and the bay-breasted, pausing in May 

 on their northward journey, pursue their insect game 

 in the very heart of the town. 



I have heard the veery thrush in the trees near 



the White House ; and one rainy April morning, 



about six o'clock, he came and blew his soft, mellow 



flute in a pear-tree in my garden. The tones had all 



11 



