Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/143

Rh Adult Female. Plate CXVI. Fig. 2. 2.

The female resembles the male, the bars on the wings being narrower, and the spots on the breast lighter. The dimensions are nearly the same.

QuERCUs NIGRA, Willd. Sp. PL voL iv. p. 442. Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept. vol. ii. p. 629.

QuERCUs FERRDGiNEA, Mich. Avbr. Forest, vol. i. p. 92, pi. 18. Mon(ecia poly- ANDRiA, Linn. AmektacejE, Juss.

Leaves coriaceous, dilated at the end and three-lobed, when young mucronate, smooth above, covered with a rust-Uke powder beneath, the cupule turbinate, its scales obtuse and scarious, the acorn shortly ovate. This tree forms the principal growth of the open barrens of Kentucky, and is also met with in all our Southern Districts. It is of small height, and extremely crooked in its growth, so as to be of little service, except- ing as fire-wood ; but it bears abundantly, producing fine raast for hogs.

This Snake is possessed of great activity, chmbs with ease over bushes and along the trunks of trees, and glides so swiftly over the ground as easily to elude pursuit. It feeds on birds, eggs, frogs, and small quadrupeds, and evinces great antipathy towards all other species of Serpent, with most of which, although destitute of poison fangs, it fights on the least provocation. It occurs abundantly from Louisiana to Connecticut, but I have not observed it in Maine or the British provinces.