Head rather large, neck short, body rather full. Feet of moderate length,
slender ; tarsus covered anteriorly with a few longish scutella; toes free,
scutellate above, the lateral ones nearly equal, hind-toe proportionally
large ; claws slender, compressed, acute, slightly arched, that of the
liind-toe longer.
Plumage soft, blended, rather compact on the back, slightly glossed.
Wings shortish, curved, third and fourth quills longest, fifth and second
nearly equal; the secondaries long and rounded. Tail long, graduated,
and deeply emarginate, of twelve straight, narrow feathers, tapering to a
rounded point.
Bill dark brown above, light blue beneath. Iris hazel. Feet very
light flesh-coloured. The general colour of the upper parts is reddishbrown,
the central parts of the feathers on the back black, their margins
bluish-grey. Secondary coverts dull yellowish-brown on the outer edge;
quills dark brown, the first seven or eight slightly edged with pale ochre,
the rest edged with light brown ; flexure of the wing bright yellow; small
coverts varied with brown and yellowish-grey. Tail-feathers brown,
lighter on the outer edges. A streak from the upper mandible over the
eye, as well as the margin of the eye, ochre-yellow. Throat pale yellowish
grey, with a short streak of blackish on each side, from the base of the
mandible ; fore part of the breast and sides tinged with brown; the rest
of the lower parts yellowish-grey.
Length 6 inches, extent of wings 7 | ; bill along the ridge along the
sides | ; tarsus f.
The Female is slightly smaller, but does not differ in colouring.
This species belongs to the same group as the Yellow-winged Sparrow,
the Savannah Finch, the Lincoln Finch, and the Henslow Finch.
At the same time, the form of the bill and tail indicates an affinity to the
Sharp-tailed Finch, the Sea-side Finch, and MacGillivray's Finch, which
are maritime birds, while the former do not betake themselves to the
salt marshes. Both groups, however, have the tail-feathers more or less
sharp.
PINCKNEYA PUBESCENS, Mich. Fl. Amer. vol. i. p. 105. Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept.
voL L p. 158.—PENTANDBIA MONOGYNIA, Linn.
This shrubby tree grows on the banks of rivers, and near swamps in
Georgia; but the twig represented in the Plate was from a tree in the
beautiful botanic garden of M. NOISETTE, a few miles from Charleston,
in South Carolina. The leaves are oval, acute at both ends, somewhat
downy beneath ; the flowers are yellow, tinged with red ; one of the divisions
of the calyx enlarges to a whitish leaf, tinged with red, which renders
the plant highly ornamental.
VOL. I I .
A a