28 B O N A P A R T E ' S F L Y - C A T C H E R.
ed by the frontal feathers. Head and neck moderate. Eyes large.
Body slender. Legs of ordinary size; tarsus a little longer than the
middle toe; inner toe a little united at the base; claws compressed,
acute, arched.
Plumage ordinary, blended. Wings rather long, somewhat acute,
second primary longest. Tail rather long, nearly even, straight. Basirostral
feathers bristly and directed outwards.
Bill brown above, yellowish beneath, orbits yellow. Iris deep brown.
Feet and claws flesh-colour. The upper parts of a light greyish-blue,
the quills dusky, their outer webs blue, the two first margined with
white. Under parts and forehead ochre-yellow, under tail-coverts whitish ;
a few dark spots on the upper part of the breast.
Length 5% inches ; bill along the ridge T
5 g , along the gap § ; tarsus f .
THE GREAT MAGNOLIA.
MAGNOLIA GRANDIFLORA, Wild. Sp. Pl. vol. ii. p. 1255. Pursh, Flor. Amer.
vol. ii. p. 380. Mich. Arbr. Forest. de l'Araer. Sept. vol. iii: p. 71. Pl. i.—
POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA, Lintl. MAGNOLIA, JtlSS.
The magnificent tree, of which a twig, with a cone of ripe fruit, is represented
in the plate, attains a height of a hundred feet or even more.
The bright red bodies are the seeds, suspended by a filament for some
time after the capsules have burst. The trunk is often very straight,
from two to four feet in diameter at the base, with a greyish smooth
bark. The leaves which remain during the winter are stiff and leathery,
smooth, elliptical, tapering at the base. The flowers are white, and
seven or eight inches in diameter. It is known by the names of Large
Magnolia, Big Laurel and Bay-tree, and occurs abundantly in some
parts of Carolina, Georgia, the Floridas and Louisiana.
T H E O H I O.
To render more pleasant the task which you have imposed upon yourself,
of following an author through the mazes of descriptive ornithology,
permit me, kind reader, to relieve the tedium which may be apt now and
then to come upon you, by presenting you with occasional descriptions of
the scenery and manners of the land which has furnished the objects that
en&ase your attention. The natural features of that land are not less
remarkable than the moral character of her inhabitants; and I cannot find
a better subject with which to begin, than one of those magnificent rivers
that roll the collected waters of her extensive territories to the ocean.
WHEN my wife, my eldest son (then an infant), and myself were returning
from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, we found it expedient, the
waters being unusually low, to provide ourselves with a skiff, to enable
vis to proceed to our abode at Henderson. I purchased a large, commodious,
and light boat of that denomination. We procured a mattress,
and our friends furnished us with ready prepared viands. We had two
stout Negro rowers, and in this trim we left the village of Shippingport,
in expectation of reaching the place of our destination in a very few days.
I t was in the month of October. The autumnal tints already decorated
the shores of that queen of rivers, the Ohio. Every tree was
hung with long and flowing festoons of different species of vines, many
loaded with clustered fruits of varied brilliancy, their rich bronzed carmine
mingling beautifully with the yellow foliage, which now predominated
over the yet green leaves, reflecting more lively tints from the clear
stream than ever landscape painter portrayed or poet imagined.
The days were yet warm. The sun had assumed the rich and glowing
hue which at that season produces the singular phenomenon called
there the " Indian Summer.11 The moon had rather passed the meridian
of her grandeur. We glided down the river, meeting no other
ripple of the water than that formed by the propulsion of our boat.
Leisurely we moved along, gazing all day on the grandeur and beauty
of the wild scenery around us.
Now and then, a large cat-fish rose to the surface of the water in pursuit
of a shoal of fry, which starting simultaneously from the liquid ele