170 ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK.
however, being spotted with black. Lower neck and middle of the breast
of a bright carmine tint; lower wing coverts white, tinged with carmine.
Length 7 | inches, extent of wings 1 3 ; bill along the back along
the edge T
9
2 ; tarsus \ \ .
Adult Female. Plate CXXVII. Fig. 2.
The female differs greatly from the male in external appearance. The
bill brown above, paler beneath ; ins hazel; feet as in the male. The general
colour of the plumage above is olivaceous brown, spotted with
brownish-black, the central part of each feather being of the latter colour.
On the head is a central longitudinal band of pale yellowish-grey, spotted
with dark brown, then on each side, a dark brown band, and above the
eye a white one; a brown band from the bill to the eye and beyond it,
and under this a whitish band. There are two white bands on the wings
as in the male, but narrower and duller. The quills and tail are brown.
The lower parts light brownish-yellow, fading behind into white; the
fore neck, breast, and sides, marked with small longitudinal spots or streaks
of dark-brown. The lower wing-coverts very slightly tinged with rosecolour.
Young Male in autumn. Plate CXXVII. Fig. 3.
After the first moult, the young male resembles the female, but already
shews the rosy tints both on the breast, and on the under wingcoverts.
Young in first plumage. Plate CXXVII. Fig. 4.
In this state also the young resemble the female.
THE GROUND HEMLOCK.
T A X U S C A N A D E N S I S , Willd. Sp. PI. vol. iv. p. 85G. Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept. vol. ii.
9/urUBui u'JILr*YO DSJHIuo glubfl jHoflTrw (Uuow
p. 647»—DLJECIA M O N A D E L P H I A . C O N I F E R I E , JusS.
\
The Ground Hemlock, or Canadian Yew, is abundant on the declivities
of the mountains from Maryland to Maine. It is a low tree, or rather
bush, often almost prostrate, and frequently hanging from the rocks.
The leaves are linear, distichous, revolute at the margin. The berries,
which are oblong or globular, and of a pale red colour, are eatable.
( 171 )
T H E CAT BIRD.
TURD US PEL I vox, VI E I LL.
PLATE C X X V I I I . MALE A N D F E M A L E .
SOME individuals of this species spend the winter in the southern portions
of East Florida, where I have found them during the months of
December and January; but the greater number retire beyond the limits
of the United States about the middle of October. They are very rarely
seen in the State of Louisiana, nor have I known any to breed in that
portion of the country. They pass in abundance through Georgia and
the Carolinas early in September, feeding then on the berries of the
Sweet Gum, those of the Poke and Sumach, the seeds of grasses, &c.
On their return in spring, they reach the neighbourhood of Charleston,
about the 20th of March, when they feed on insects found along the
lanes and garden-walks; but none are heard to sing, or are found to
breed there. They are abundant during summer in the whole of the
western country, and are plentifully dispersed from Virginia to the middle
portions of Massachusetts, beyond which, proceeding eastward, I saw
none. They are in fact unknown in the State of Maine, as well as in the
British provinces.
Their migration is performed mostly during night, when they move
slowly from bush to bush, scarcely ever extending their flight beyond the
breadth of the rivers which they meet with. In a place where not an individual
is to be seen in an afternoon, in the months of April or May, a
considerable number may be found the following morning. They seem
to give a preference to the Middle States during the summer season.
Pennsylvania is particularly favoured by them; and it would be difficult
to walk through an orchard or garden, along a field, or the borders of a
wood, without being saluted by their plaintive notes. They breed in
these places with much carelessness, placing their nests in any bush, tree,
or briar that seems adapted for the purpose, and seeming to think it unnecessary
to conceal them from man, who indeed ought to protect such
amiable birds, but who sometimes destroys them in revenge for the trifling
depredations which they commit on the fruits of the garden.
No sooner has the Cat Bird made its appearance in the country of its