Vv 
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 
summer 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. I have never yet been able to 
settle the question, as every fall I start up a few of 
these gigantic specimens, which perch on the trees. 
They are about three inches long, of a gray striped 
or spotted color, and have quite a reptile look. 
The greatest novelty I found, however, was the 
superb autumn weather, the bright, strong, electric} 
days, lasting well into November, and the general 
