part i

. p. 413.

Adult Male. Plate CLXXVIII. Fig. 1.

Bill longish, slender, straight, tapering to a very sharp point. Nostrils basal, oval, feet of ordinary length, slender; tarsus compressed, covered anteriorly with a few long scutella, sharp-edged behind, longer than the middle-toe; toes scutellate above, free; claws arched, slender, compressed, acute.

Plumage blended, the feathers soft and tufty. Wings rather short, the second and third quills longest. Tail slightly emarginate, of ordinary length, the twelve feathers rather narrow, and tapering broadly to a point.

Bill dusky above, pale greyish-blue beneath. Iris hazel. Feet and claws dusky. The general colour of the plumage above is dull brownish-green, the rump and tail-coverts light yellowish-green, the edge of the wing at the flexure yellow. On the crown is a spot of bright reddish-orange, more distinct when the feathers are raised. The under parts are of a dull olivaceous yellow, the lower tail-coverts bright yellow. The quills and tail-feathers dark brown, slightly margined with paler.

Length 5½ inches, extent of wings 7-11/12; bill along the ridge 5/12, along the edge ½; tarsus 9/12.

Adult Female. Plate CLXXVIII. Fig. 2.

Bill and feet of the same colour as in the male, the former inclined to yellowish-grey beneath. The female wants the orange spot on the crown, but in other respects resembles the male in colour, although the rump and upper tail-coverts are of a darker tint.

Length slightly less than that of the male.

This species appears to form the transition from the Sylviæ to the Reguli; or rather to be allied to the Reguli on the one hand, and to the Slender-billed Finches on the other.

THE HUCKLEBERRY.

VACCINIUM FRONDOSUM, _Willd._ Sp. Pl. vol. ii. p. 352. _Pursh_, Flor. Amer. Sept. vol. i. p. 285.—DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA, _Linn._ ERICÆ, _Juss._

This plant has already been described at p. 129. of Vol. I. It is very abundant in the pine barrens of the Floridas, where it is in full flower in February, and attains a height of from four to eight feet.

THE WOOD WREN.

_TROGLODYTES AMERICANA._

PLATE CLXXIX. MALE.

Although I feel much pleasure in introducing this new species to you, I regret that I am yet unable to speak with certainty of its summer haunts, or of the extent of its migration in the United States. A family of Wrens of this species were shot by my sons in a deep wood, eight or ten miles from Eastport in Maine, in the summer of 1832. The young were following their parents through the dark and tangled recesses of their favourite places of abode, busily engaged in search of their insect prey; but their nest was not seen. Some weeks afterwards three adult birds of the same kind were shot near Dennisville in the same district; and, on shewing them to my young and intelligent friend THOMAS LINCOLN, Esq. he told me that they bred in hollow logs in the woods, and seldom if ever approached the farms. He had seen the eggs, but, considering it a common species there, had made no notes of their number or colour; nor had he attended to the form or materials of their nest. My drawing was made at that place.

Last winter, while at Charleston, I saw many of them: they had much the same habits as in Maine, remaining in thick hedges along ditches, in the woods, and also not far distant from plantations. I procured several through the assistance of my friend JOHN BACHMAN, which now form part of my large collection of skins of American birds. The notes of this species differ considerably from those of the House Wren, to which it is nearly allied. I hope to be more familiar with the Wood Wren before my labours are completed, in which case I shall not fail to make you acquainted with the result of my observations.

The following table exhibits a view of the places of resort of our different Wrens, which are arranged according to their comparative frequency.

1. The _Carolina Wren_ is extremely abundant in all the Southern States, and gradually diminishes in number as you approach the Middle Districts, none I believe being ever seen farther east than the State of New York. It occurs chiefly in maritime districts, or the neighbourhood of lakes, ponds or rivers.

2. The _House Wren_ is abundant during spring and summer in the Middle Districts, and extends in small numbers eastward into Maine. Very few are seen to the west of the Alleghanies, and none in Kentucky or Louisiana. It is fond of the neighbourhood of human habitations.

3. The _Winter Wren_ abounds in Maine during summer; some breed in the mountainous portions of the Middle States; none are seen in the south, unless during winter, when a few occur as far as Charleston in South Carolina; at this period it is abundant in Kentucky.

4. _Bewick's Wren_ is rather rare in the Southern States, from Louisiana to South Carolina, being found in the interior. Its breeding place is unknown.

5. The _Wood Wren_ is found here and there in Maine, where it breeds. It winters in South Carolina.

6. The _Long-billed Marsh Wren_ is altogether maritime, and abounds from the Carolinas to the Middle States.

7. The _Short-billed Marsh Wren_ occurs near fresh water only, and is abundant from the Carolinas to Maine. The two last species are never seen at a greater distance from the coast than a few miles.

THE WOOD WREN, TROGLODYTES AMERICANA.

Adult Male. Plate CLXXIX. Fig. 1.

Bill of moderate length, nearly straight, slender, acute, subtrigonal at the base, compressed towards the tip; upper mandible with the ridge rather sharp, the sides convex towards the end, the edges acute and overlapping, the tip slightly decimate and acute; lower mandible narrow, the sides convex, the sharp edges inflected. Nostrils elliptical, straight, basal, with a cartilaginous lid above, open and bare. Head ovate, neck short, body rather full. Legs of ordinary length, rather large; tarsus rather long, compressed, covered anteriorly with seven scutella, sharp behind; lateral toes equal and smallest, hind toe strongest; claws rather long, slender, acute, arched, much compressed.

Plumage soft, blended, slightly glossed. No bristly feathers about the base of the beak. Wings short, broad; the first quill half the length of the second, which is much shorter than the third; the fourth and fifth longest. Tail rather long, broad, graduated, of twelve rounded feathers.

Bill dusky brown above, lower mandible brownish-yellow, the tip dusky. Iris hazel. Feet flesh-colour, tinged with brown. The general colour of the upper parts is dark reddish-brown, duller, and tinged with grey on the head, indistinctly barred with dark brown; wings and tail undulatingly banded with dark brown, the edges of the outer primaries lighter. The under parts are pale brownish-grey, faintly barred on the fore-neck, breast, and sides, the under tail-coverts distinctly barred.

Length 4⅞ extent of wings 6-3/12 bill along the ridge 5½/12, along the edge 8/12; tarsus 8/12.

This species is most intimately allied to the House Wren, from which it can hardly be distinguished in description, the colours being nearly the same in both. The present species, however, is considerably larger, wants the light coloured line over the eye which is conspicuous in the House Wren, and has the tail much more graduated.

SMILACINA BOREALIS, _Pursh_, Flor. Amer. Sept. vol. i. p. 233. —HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA, _Linn._

Leaves elliptico-obovate, ciliated; the scape pubescent, with a corymbose umbel. The flowers are large, and of a greenish-yellow colour; the fruit roundish, of a beautiful deep blue. It is extremely abundant in the dark woods of Maine, growing in moist places.

ARBUTUS UVA-URSI, _Willd._ Sp. Pl. vol. ii. p. 618.—DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA, _Linn._

This small creeping plant grows in pine barrens, and in rocky and mountainous places in the Northern and Eastern States. The berries are scarlet, dry and unpalatable.

THE PINE FINCH.

_FRINGILLA PINUS_, WILS.

PLATE CLXXX. MALE AND FEMALE.

During the winter months, the Pine Finch is such a wanderer, that it ranges at irregular periods, from the coast line westward to the banks of the Ohio, and southward to the Carolinas. Now and then, during severe weather with occasional storms of snow, I have seen flocks of a hundred individuals or more, rambling in search of a place in which to alight and seek for nourishment. In December 1833, I shot several near Charleston in South Carolina, and on a previous winter procured five near Henderson in Kentucky. Their visits to those Districts, however, are of short duration, the least increase of temperature seeming to recall them to their more northern haunts; and as soon as spring commences, they all disappear from the districts south of Maine and the adjacent countries.

In August and September 1832, while travelling in the British provinces, I and my companions frequently met with flocks of these birds, in company with the American Crossbill, feeding amid the branches of the tallest fir trees, as well as on the seeds of the thistles of that country, much in the manner of the American Goldfinch, and the European Siskin. When disturbed, they would rise high in the air in an irregular flight, emitting their peculiar call-note as they flew; but would always realight as soon as another group of thistles was seen by them. When feeding, they often hung head downwards, like so many Titmice, and as often would balance themselves on the wing, as if afraid to alight on the sharp points of the plants, which after all they appeared greatly to prefer to all others.

While among the Magdeleine Islands, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, I frequently observed groups of five or six of these birds arriving from afar, and in different directions. In some instances, these flocks alighted on the spars and rigging of our vessel, the Ripley, as if to rest, when they would plume themselves, issue their plaintive call-notes, as if to announce to others (unseen by us) that they had alighted, and in a few minutes would leave us, and direct their course toward the nearest shores, perhaps following in the wake of other flocks.

At the Harbour of Bras d'Or, on the coast of Labrador, in the end of July, we met with a great number of these birds. They were then accompanied by their young, and moved in flocks composed of a single family, or at most of two. They haunted low thickets of willows and elders in the vicinity of water, and were extremely fearless and gentle, allowing the members of my party to approach them very near, so that we procured as many of them as we desired. No difference was observable either in the males or the females as to plumage, compared with that which they have in the winter, only that the yellow of the wings was brighter and richer than it is at that season. The young were already fully fledged, had the whole head of a clean plain grey tint, and although exhibiting the different markings elsewhere seen on the old birds, they had those markings depicted in feeble tints. Not a nest could we find, although I have no doubt that the birds which we saw had been reared in the immediate neighbourhood.

In the State of Maine they are always abundant during winter. My young friend THOMAS LINCOLN, informed me that at that season, they flock in company with Crossbills, the Pine Grosbeak, the White-winged Crossbill and other species, are easily caught, and require no particular care in keeping.

This species sings while on the wing, as the Goldfinch is wont to do. Its notes are sweet, varied, clear and mellow, and although somewhat resembling those of the bird just mentioned, are yet perfectly distinct from them. Its flight, however, is almost the same as that of the Goldfinch. Like that bird, it glides through the air in graceful deep curves, emitting its common call-note at every effort which it makes to propel itself.

Those which I saw while in South Carolina, in company with my esteemed friend JOHN BACHMAN, fed entirely on the seeds of the Sweet Gum, each bird hanging to a bur for a while, and passing from one to another with great celerity. They are fond of open grounds, and alight on detached trees, when these are high, but at most times they prefer thickets of bushes.

The specimens represented in the plate, were procured near the residence of Sir ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, Bart. in New Brunswick, of which province he is governor; and I have great pleasure in informing you, that, through his most polite attention and kind hospitality to myself and my family, our time was passed in the most pleasant manner, while we sojourned in the pretty village of Frederickton.

FRINGILLA PINUS, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 111.

PINE FINCH, FRINGILLA PINUS, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 133. pl. 57. fig. 1.—_Nuttall_, Manual,