part ii

. p. 674.

Adult Male, in summer. Plate CXCI. Fig. 1.

Bill short, robust; upper mandible with the dorsal outline curved, the edges overlapping, the tip declinate and rounded, the basal part with a deep sinus on each side, lower mandible convex, broad, with the tip rounded. Nostrils basal, roundish, concealed by the feathers. Head small, neck rather long, body bulky. Feet of ordinary length; tarsus feathered, as are the toes, excepting towards the end, where they are covered with small scales and three terminal scutella; hind toe extremely short, two lateral equal; claws slightly arched, depressed, broad, with thin edges, and rounded.

Plumage compact, the feathers generally rounded, those of the head and upper neck narrow and proportionally short. The legs and toes covered with hair-like feathers. Wings short, the primaries strong, narrow, tapering, curved, third longest, second and fourth little shorter. Tail short, even, or very slightly rounded, of fourteen broad feathers, and four narrower central ones, which are superior.

Bill black. Iris brown. Toes and claws dark brown, the edges of the latter yellowish-grey. Head and neck bright chestnut, the feathers on the back part of the latter and crown of the head barred with black, and tipped with whitish. The back, some of the wing-coverts, the nearer secondary quills, the four upper tail-feathers, the anterior part of the breast, and part of the sides under the wings, variegated with brownish-black, chestnut and white, the feathers being of the first colour in the middle, and transversely barred with the second towards the end, while the terminal margin is of the last. Most of the coverts, all the primaries, and the greater number of the secondaries, with the whole under surface of the wings, the middle of the breast, the abdomen, legs and feet, pure white, the shafts of the primaries are more or less brown, excepting towards the ends, The fourteen tail-feathers are brownish-black, with the tips white, as is the basal portion of the outer web of the outermost. The superciliary membranes are vermilion.

Length 17 inches, extent of wings 26½; bill along the ridge ¾; tarsus 1½; middle toe with the nail 1-7/12; weight 1¼ lb.

Adult Female, in summer. Plate CXCI. Fig. 2.

In the female the superciliary membrane is much smaller, but of the same colour, as are the wings and tail. The head, neck, breast, abdomen, sides, as well as the upper parts, are variegated in a manner resembling the back of the male, but with the black spots larger, and the transverse bars of light brownish-red, broader and less numerous; the lower surface much lighter.

Length 16 inches, extent of wings 25; weight 1 lb.

Young a few days old. Plate CXCI. Fig. 3, 3.

The young are covered with a dense elastic down, of a yellowish tint, variegated above with a few large streaks of dark brown, on a light brown ground; the top of the head with a longitudinal brown patch margined with black.

The Young when fully fledged resemble the Female.

THE LABRADOR TEA PLANT.

LEDUM LATIFOLIUM, _Willd._ Sp. Pl. vol. ii. p. 602. _Pursh_, Fl. Amer. Sept. vol. i. p. 301.—DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA, _Linn._ RHODODENDRA, _Juss._

The Labrador Tea Plant springs up among the rich and thick moss that everywhere covers the country of Labrador. I was informed that the fishermen and Indians frequently make use of it instead of tea.

It is a small shrub, about a foot in height, with linear oblong leaves, which are folded back at the margin, and covered on the back with a rust-coloured down. The flowers are white.

THE SEA PEA.

PISUM MARITIMUM, _Willd._ Sp. Pl. vol. iii. p. 1071. _Pursh_, Flor. Amer. Sept. vol. ii. p. 470.—DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA, _Linn._ LEGUMINOSÆ, _Juss._

This species of Pea grows in the same country, generally in the vicinity of the sea. It has an angular stem, with sagittate stipules, and many-flowered peduncles, with large purple, blue and red flowers.

THE GREAT CINEREOUS SHRIKE.

_LANIUS EXCUBITOR_, LINN.

PLATE CXCII. MALE, FEMALE, AND YOUNG.

Although this species spends the greater part of the year in our most Eastern States, and in countries still farther north, many individuals remain in the mountainous districts of the Middle States, and breed there. In severe winters, it migrates as far south as the neighbourhood of the city of Natchez, on the Mississippi, where I have shot several and seen many more. In Kentucky it is not a rare bird at that season, but along the coasts of our southern States I have never met with it, nor have I heard of its having been seen there.

In spring and summer it retires from the low lands of the Middle States, to the mountainous districts, where it generally remains until autumn. About the 20th of April, the male and his mate are seen engaged in building their nest, in the covered and secluded parts of the forests. I found several of their nests placed on bushes not above ten feet from the ground, without any appearance of choice as to the tree, but generally towards the top, and placed in a fork. The nest is as large as that of the Robin, and is composed externally of coarse grasses, leaves and moss, internally of fibrous roots, over which is a bed of the feathers of the Wild Turkey and Pheasant (_Tetrao umbellus_). The eggs are four or five, of a dull cinereous tint, thickly spotted and streaked with light brown towards the larger end. The period of incubation is fifteen days.

The young are at first of a dark bluish colour, but when they become covered with feathers, they assume a dull rufous tint above, and are transversely barred with zig-zag lines from the throat to the abdomen. In this State they remain until late in autumn, and might seem to one not acquainted with them to be of a different species. They remain with their parents all that time, and not unfrequently even during winter. Caterpillars, spiders and insects of various kinds form their first food, together with small fruits; but as they grow up, their parents bring them the flesh of small birds, on which they feed greedily even before they leave the nest.

This valiant little warrior possesses the faculty of imitating the notes of other birds, especially such as are indicative of pain. Thus it will often mimic the cries of Sparrows and other small birds, so as to make you believe you hear them screaming in the claws of a Hawk; and I strongly suspect this is done for the purpose of inducing others to come out from their coverts to the rescue of their suffering brethren. On several occasions I have seen it in the act of screaming in this manner, when it would suddenly dart from its perch into a thicket, from which there would immediately issue the real cries of a bird on which it had seized. On the banks of the Mississippi, I saw one which for several days in succession had regularly taken its stand on the top of a tall tree, where it from time to time imitated the cries of the Swamp and Song Sparrows, and shortly afterwards would pitch downwards like a Hawk, with is wings close to its body, seldom failing in obtaining the object of its pursuit, which it would sometimes follow even through the briars and brambles among which it had sought refuge. When unable to secure the prey, it would reascend to its perch, and emit loud and discordant notes of anger. Whenever I could see it strike its victim, it appeared to alight on its back, and instantly strike its head, which on such occasions I have several times found torn open. If not disturbed, the Shrike would then tear up the body, and swallow in large pieces, not well cleared of the feathers, every part excepting the wings. It now and then pursues birds that are on the wing to a considerable distance. Thus, I saw one follow a Turtle Dove, which, on being nearly caught, pitched on the ground, where its skull was bruised in a moment; but the next instant both birds were in my possession.

The courage, activity, and perseverance of this species, are quite surprising. In winter, when insects are scarce, and small birds rare in the Eastern States, I have known it to enter the cities and attack birds in cages. During my stay at Boston, several of them were brought to me, that had been caught in the apartments in which cages containing canaries were kept, and in every instance after the little favourite had been massacred. Near the same city I observed an individual poised on wing, in the manner of our Sparrow Hawk, for several minutes at a time, over the withered grass and sedges of salt water meadows, when it suddenly pounced on some small bird concealed there.

Although its feet are small and apparently weak, its claws are sharp, and it is capable of inflicting a pretty severe wound on the finger or hand. It bites with great pertinacity, and will seldom let go its hold unless its throat is squeezed.

Its flight is strong, swift, and sustained: it moves through the air in long undulations which have each an extent of twenty or thirty yards, but it seldom rises very high, unless for the purpose of obtaining a good point of observation, and in its usual flight merely passes over the tops of the low bushes rapidly and in silence, in starts of from fifty to a hundred yards. I never saw one walk or move on the ground.

They are extremely fond of crickets and grasshoppers, as well as other kinds of insects, and they feed on the flesh of birds whenever they can procure it. The individuals which I have kept in cages, appeared well pleased with pieces of fresh beef, but they generally remained dull and sullen until they died. As it was only during winter that I had them in confinement, when no coleopterous insects could be procured, I had no opportunity of observing if, like Hawks, they have the power of throwing up hard particles of the food which they swallow, although I should suppose this to be the case. Their propensity to impale insects and small birds on the sharp points of twigs and on thorns, which they so frequently do at all seasons of the year, is quite a mystery to me, as I cannot conceive what its object may be.

I have represented four of these birds of different ages, and therefore differing in colour and size, leaving to the naturalists of Europe to determine, if they can, whether the American species be the same as the one found in that portion of the globe. For my part, I believe the two to be the same. In our species the transverse lines of the breast disappear as the bird advances in age, when the tint of the upper part of the plumage also becomes lighter.

LANIUS EXCUBITOR, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 135.—_Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 67.

LANIUS SEPTENTRIONALIS, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synops. p. 72.

LANIUS BOREALIS, _Vieill._ Ois. de l'Amer. vol. i. p. 80. pl. 50. —_Swains. and Richards._ Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 111. pl. 33. (Young.)

GREAT CINEREOUS SHRIKE, _Mont._ Ornith. Dict.—_Selby_, Illustrations, vol. i. p. 148.

GREAT AMERICAN SHRIKE or BUTCHER BIRD, LANIUS EXCUBITOR, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. p. 74. pl. 5. fig. 1.—_Nuttall_, Manual,