Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, volume 1.djvu/461

Rh brownish-black, margined externally with blue; secondary coverts slightly tipped with greyish. Tail blackish, the lateral feathers nearly all white, the two next tipped with the same colour. A narrow band of black on the forehead, extending over the eyes. Under parts greyish-white, the sides of the neck bright blue, the sides greyish-blue.

Length $4 1/4$ inches, extent of wings $6 1/2$; bill along the ridge $1/3$, along the gap a little more than $1/2$; tarsus $7/12$.

Adult Female. Plate LXXXIV. Fig. 2.

The female is much duller in colouring, the bright blue of the male being in her light greyish-blue. The black band on the forehead is also wanting.

, Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. iv. p. 456. Pursh, Flor. Amer. vol. ii. p. 636. Mich. Arbr. Forest. de l'Amer. Sept. vol. i. p. 157. Pl. 1.—, Linn., Juss.

This species belongs to the division with simple, polyandrous male catkins, and is distinguished by its numerous ovato-lanceolate, subcordate, serrated leaflets, narrowed towards the end, somewhat downy beneath, as are the petioles; its globular scabrous fruits, and wrinkled nuts. The leaves have seven or eight nearly opposite pairs of leaflets. The male catkins are pendent. The fruits are sometimes from six to eight inches in circumference, the kernel brown and corrugated, and, although eaten, inferior to the Common Walnut. The bark of the trunk is thick, blackish, and cracked; the wood of a very dark colour.