SPRING AT THE CAPITAL 131 
silver poplars which line all the streets and ave- 
nues, After a few mild, sunshiny March days, you 
suddenly perceive a change has come over the trees. 
Their tops have a less naked look. If the weather 
continues warm, a single day will work wonders. 
Presently the tree will be one vast plume of gray, 
downy tassels, while not the least speck of green 
foliage is visible. The first week in April these 
long mimic caterpillars lie all about the streets and 
fill the gutters. 
The approach of spring is also indicated by the 
crows and buzzards, which rapidly multiply in the 
environs of the city, and grow bold and demonstra- 
tive. The crows are abundant here all winter, but 
are not very noticeable except as they pass high in 
air to and from their winter quarters in the Virginia 
woods. arly in the morning, as soon as it is light 
enough to discern them, there they are, streaming 
eastward across the sky, now in loose, scattered 
flocks, now in thick, dense masses, then singly and 
in pairs or triplets, but all setting in one direction, 
probably to the waters of Eastern Maryland. To- 
ward night they begin to return, flying in the same 
manner, and directing their course to the wooded 
heights on the Potomac, west of the city. In 
spring these diurnal mass movements cease; the 
clan breaks up, the rookery is abandoned, and the 
birds scatter broadcast over the land. This seems 
to be the course everywhere pursued. One would 
think that, when food was scarcest, the policy of 
separating into small bands or pairs, and dispersing 
