SPRING AT THE CAPITAL 137 
being inaugurated! Some puppies, snugly nestled! 
in the cavity of an old hollow tree, he said, be-' 
longed to a wild dog. I imagine I saw the ‘ wild 
dog,’ on the other side of Rock Creek, in a great 
state of grief and trepidation, running up and down, 
crying and yelping, and looking wistfully over the 
swollen flood, which the poor thing had not the | 
courage to brave. This day, for the first time, I 
heard the song of the Canada sparrow, a soft, sweet 
note, almost running into a warble. Sawa small, 
black, velvety butterfly with a yellow border to He 
wings. Under a warm bank found two flowers of | 
the houstonia in bloom. Saw frogs’ spawn near ; 
Piny Branch, and heard the hyla.” Nee 
Among the first birds that make their appear- 
ance in Washington is the crow blackbird. He may 
come any time after the 1st of March. The birds 
congregate in large flocks, and frequent groves and 
parks, alternately swarming in the treetops and fill- 
ing the air with their sharp jangle, and alighting 
on the ground in quest of food, their polished coats 
glistening in the sun from very blackness as they 
walk about. There is evidently some music in the 
soul of this bird at this season, though he makes 
a sad failure in getting it out. His voice always 
sounds as if he were laboring under a severe attack 
of influenza, though a large flock of them, heard at 
a distance on a bright afternoon of early spring, 
produce an effect not unpleasing. The air is filled 
with crackling, splintering, spurting, semi-musical 
sounds, which are like pepper and salt to the ear. 
