114 MOCKING BIRD.
middle one hardly shorter than the tarsus; inner toe free; hind toe
rather robust; claws compressed, acute, arched.
Plumage soft and blended. Wings of moderate length, rounded;
third and fourth primaries longest, first short. Tail long, much rounded,
of twelve nearly straight, rather narrow, rounded feathers.
Bill brownish-black. Iris pale yellow. Feet and claws dark brown.
Upper parts of the head, neck and body dark grey, tinged with brown
on the forehead and sides of the head. Under parts brownish-white.
Quills brownish-black; primaries white in their proximal part, forming a
large spot of that colour on the wing, concealed on the first three, and
on the last reaching to near the tip. Large primary coverts white, with a
line of black at the tip. Secondary coverts and second row tipped with
white. Outer tail-feather white, excepting a light streak of dusky near
the tip ; the next two also white, but with a longitudinal streak of black
on the outer web, larger and broader on the third. The rest brownishblack
tinged with grey, and, excepting the middle ones, tipped with white.
Length 9£ inches, extent of wings 13% ; bill along the ridge
along the gap 1 ; tarsus 1|, middle toe 1.
Adult Female. Plate XXI. Fig. 2, 2.
The female differs very little from the male. The plumage is slightly
duller, with more brown, the lateral tail-feathers have more black, and
the white parts are less pure. The dimensions are nearly the same.
T H E F L O R I D A J E S S A M I N E .
GELSEMINUM NITIDUM, Mich. Flor. Amer. vol. i. p. 120. Pursh. Flor. Amer.
vol. i. p. 184—FENTANDUIA DIGYNIA, Linn. APOCINE.*:, Jnss.
A climbing shrub, with smooth lanceolate leaves, axillary clusters of
yellow flowers, which are funnel-shaped, with the limb spreading and
nearly equal, the calyx five-toothed, the capsule two-celled and twovalved.
It grows along the sea-coast, especially near rivers, from Virginia
to Florida, flowering through the summer. The flowers are
fragrant. It is also named Carolina Jessamine and Yellow Jessamine.
( H5 )
THE PURPLE MARTIN.
HlRUNDO PURPUREA, LlNN.
P L A T E X X I I . MALE AND FEMALE.
T H E Purple Martin makes its appearance in the City of New Orleans
from the 1st to the 9th of February, occasionally a few days earlier than
the first of these dates, and is then to be seen gambolling through the air,
over the city and the river, feeding on many sorts of insects, which are
there found in abundance at that period.
It frequently rears three broods whilst with us. I have had several
opportunities, at the period of their arrival, of seeing prodigious flocks
moving over that city or its vicinity, at a considerable height, each bird
performing circular sweeps as it proceeded, for the purpose of procuring
food. These flocks were loose, and moved either eastward, or towards
the north-west, at a rate not exceeding four miles in the hour, as I walked
under one of them with ease for upwards of two miles, at that rate, on
the 4th of February 1821, on the bank of the river below the city, constantly
looking up at the birds, to the great astonishment of many passengers,
who were bent on far different pursuits. My Fahrenheit's thermometer
stood at 68°, the weather being calm and drizzly. This flock
extended about a mile and a half in length, by a quarter of a mile in
breadth. On the 9th of the same month, not far above the Battle-ground,
I enjoyed another sight of the same kind, although I did not think the
flock so numerous.
At the Falls of the Ohio, I have seen Martins as early as the 15th of
March, arriving in small detached parties of only five or six individuals,
when the thermometer was as low as 28°, the next day at 45°, and again,
in the same week, so low as to cause the death of all the Martins, or to
render them so incapable of flying as to suffer children to catch them.
By the 25th of the same month, they are generally plentiful about that
neighbourhood.
At St Genevieve, in the State of Missouri, they seldom arrive before
the 10th or 15th of April, and sometimes suffer from unexpected returns
of frost. At Philadelphia, they arc first seen about the 10th of April.
H 2