Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/376

340 wings and the lower coverts are pale vermillion, and the inner edges of the quills are of the same tint, but paler. The parts surrounding the base of the bill, which are black in the male, are blackish-grey, and the lower parts in general are pale greyish-brown.

Length 7^ inches.

Prunus CAEOLiNiANA, JVUld. Sp. PL vol. ii. p. 987. Pursh. Fl. Amer. Sept. vol. i. p, 330. — IcosANDRiA MoNOGYNiA, Linn. RosacEjE, Juss.

Flowers in racemes ; leaves evergreen, oblong-lanceolate, mucronate, serrate, without glands at the base. The Wild Almond is altogether a southern tree. Its height now and then is as much as twenty-five feet, the stem in that case being a foot or more in diameter. The usual rounded form of its top, and the persistence of its foliage, together with its white flowers, and dark coloured fruits, render it a very agreeable object. Many are planted around the plantation grounds or the gardens of our southern cities, on account of their beautiful appearance. The fruits are greedily devoured by many species of birds, but are unpalatable to man. I have not observed it to the east of Virginia, nor farther west than the town of Memphis on the Mississippi. The wood is seldom applied to any useful purpose.