154 WAKE-ROBIN 
ing in the loop of a grapevine, beneath a thick 
canopy of green branches, in a secluded nook by a 
spring run, one of these birds came pursuing some 
kind of insect, but a few feet above me. He 
hopped about, now and then uttering his sharp 
note, till, some moth or beetle trying to escape, he 
broke down through the cover almost where I sat, 
The effect was like a firebrand coming down through 
the branches. Instantly catching sight of me, he 
darted away much alarmed. The female is tinged 
with brown, and shows but little red except when 
she takes flight. 
By far the most abundant species of woodpecker 
about Washington is the red-headed. It is more 
common than the robin. Not in the deep woods, 
but among the scattered dilapidated oaks and groves, 
on the hills and in the fields, I hear almost every 
day his uncanny note, kir-rr, ktr-r-r, like that of 
some larger tree-toad, proceeding from an oak grove 
just beyond the boundary. He is a strong-scented 
fellow, and very tough. Yet how beautiful, as he 
flits about the open woods, connecting the trees by 
a gentle are of crimson and white! This is another 
bird with a military look. His deliberate, dignified 
ways, and his bright uniform of red, white, and 
steel-blue, bespeak him an officer of rank. 
Another favorite beat of mine is northeast of the 
city. Looking from the Capitol in this direction, 
scarcely more than a mile distant, you see a broad 
green hill-slope, falling very gently, and spreading 
into a large expanse of meadow-land. The summit, 
