Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/240

204 ing two bands on the wing. Primary quills clove-brown, edged with paler. Tail-feathers blackish-brown, the two outer on each side with a white patch on the inner webs near the end. A broad band of white crosses the cheek, and all the lower parts are of the same colour, an interrupted line of black spots running down the sides of the neck and breast.

Length 5¼ inches, extent of wings 8½ ; bill along the ridge $5½⁄12$, along the edge $7⁄12$, ; tarsus $9½⁄12$.

Adult female. Plate CXXXIV. Fig. 2.

The female has the whole of the upper parts oil-green, tinged with grey, with central blackish-brown spots on the feathers, the rump and tail-coverts with the dark spots inconspicuous. Wing-bands tinged with yellow, as are the sides of the breast. The sides of the head, neck, breast, and flanks, marked with blackish-brown spots. In other respects the colouring is similar to that of the male.

Length 5¼ inches.

, Linn. Sp. Pl. 1511. Mich. Arbr. Forest, vol. ii. p. 265 pi. 22._, Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. liv. p. 1113. Pursh, Flor. Amer. voL i. p. 177. , Linn. , Juss.

The Black Gum is seldom found of a greater height than from fifty to sixty feet, with a diameter of about three. The wood is of little use, even for firing, as it takes a long time to consume, affords no blaze, and burns dismally. A trunk of this tree falling into the water immediately sinks and remains. Its foliage is pleasing to the eye, and in many parts of the Middle Districts some are kept standing as shade-trees for cattle. The berries, which hang in pairs, and sometimes three or four together, at the extremity of their slender peduncle, are eaten in great quantities during winter by various species of birds.