204 AMERICAN REDSTART.
Plumage blended, soft, glossy. The bill margined at the base with
long spreading bristles. Wings of moderate length, third quill longest,
second and first little shorter. Tail rather long, rounded.
Bill brownish-black. Iris dark brown. Feet blackish. Head, neck,
fore part of the breast, and upper parts, black, the head, neck, and back
glossed with blue. Sides of the breast, and under wing-coverts reddishorange
; abdomen white. Quills brownish-black, their anterior half
orange, forming a broad transverse band on the wing. Two middle tailfeathers
black, the rest black in their terminal half, yellow in the basal
half.
Length 5 inches, extent of wings 6 £ ; bill along the ridge along
the gap ^ ; tarsus f, middle toe
Adult Female. Plate XL. Fig. %
Bill, feet and iris, as in the male. Head and upper parts brownishgrey,
the former tinged with blue. Under parts greyish-white, the
breast at the sides dull yellow. Band on the wings and at the base of
the tail, pale yellow, tinged with green.
Dimensions nearly as in the male.
THE VIRGINIAN HORNBEAM, OR IRON-WOOD TREE.
O S T R Y A V I R G I N I C A , Wild, Sp. PL vol. iv. p. 469. Pursh, Flor. Amer. voL iL p. 623.
— M O N O Z C I A P O L Y A N D R I A , Linn. A M E N T Á C E A , JUSS.
This species is distinguished by its ovato-oblong leaves, which are
somewhat cordate at the base, unequally serrated and acuminate, and its
twin, ovate, acute cones. It is a small tree, attaining a height of from
twenty to thirty feet, and a diameter of about one foot. The wood is
white, and close-grained. The common name in America is Iron-wood,
which it receives on account of the great hardness of the wood.
( 205 )
T H E COUGAR.
THERE is an extensive Swamp in the section of the State of Mississippi
which lies partly in the Choctaw territory. It commences at the
borders of the Mississippi, at no great distance from a Chicasaw village,
situated near the mouth of a creek known by the name of Vanconnah, and
partly inundated by the swellings of several large bayous, the principal
of which, crossing the swamp in its whole extent, discharges its waters
not far from the mouth of the Yazoo River. This famous bayou is called
False River. The swamp of which I am speaking follows the windings
of the Yazoo, until the latter branches off to the north-east, and at this
point forms the stream named Cold Water River, below which the Yazoo
receives the draining of another bayou inclining towards the north-west,
and intersecting that known by the name of False River, at a short distance
from the place where the latter receives the waters of the Mississippi.
This tedious account of the situation of the Swamp, is given with the
view of pointing it out to all students of nature who may chance to go
that way, and whom I would earnestly urge to visit its interior, as it
abounds in rare and interesting productions: birds, quadrupeds and reptiles,
as well as molluscous animals, many of which, I am persuaded, have
never been described.
In the course of one of my rambles, I chanced to meet with a squatter's
cabin on the banks of the Cold Water River. In the owner of this
hut, like most of those adventurous settlers in the uncultivated tracts of
our frontier districts, I found a person well versed in the chase, and acquainted
with the habits of some of the larger species of quadrupeds and
birds. As he who is desirous of instruction ought not to disdain listening
to any one, who has knowledge to communicate, however humble
may be his lot, or however limited his talents, I entered the squatter's
cabin, and immediately opened a conversation with him respecting the
situation of the swamp, and its natural productions. He told me he
thought it the very place I ought to visit, spoke of the game which it
contained, and pointed to some bear and deer skins, adding that the individuals
to which they had belonged formed but a small portion of the
number of those animals which he had shot within it. My heart swelled
with delight, and on asking if he would accompany me through the great