20 C A N A D A FLYCATCHER.
are the tail-feathers, except the two middle, which are grey like the back.
The head mottled with brownish-black; spots of the same colour, descending
in a line from the lower mandible to the upper part of the breast,
forming an interrupted gorgelet. A bright yellow line from the base of
the mandible over the eye. The lower parts of a fine bright yellow, excepting
under the tail, where they are white.
Length 5£ inches, extent of wings 9 ; bill f; tarsus §, toe about the
same length.
Adult Female. PI. CHI. Fig. 2.
The female has the grey of the upper parts more tinged with brown,
and the yellow of the lower parts less brilliant; but in other respects so
resembles the male as not to require any particular description.
THE GREAT LAUREL.
RHODODENDRON MAXIMUM, Willd. Sp. PI. vol. \\. p. 600—Pursh. Flor. Amer. vol.i.
p. 297—DECANDHIA MONOGYNIA, Linn—RHODODENDRA, JUSS.
This beautiful species frequently attains a height of 15 or even 20 feet.
I t is characterised by its oblong, acute leaves, its terminal umbels or clusters
of pink campanulate flowers, the divisions of the calyces of which are
oval and obtuse. It exhibits several varieties depending on the shape of
the leaves, the colour of the flowers, and the comparative length of the
stamens and style. The wood, which is tough and stubborn, is well
adapted for turner's work. The species is found on all the moist declivities
of our mountainous districts, from Carolina to Massachusetts.
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T H E C H I P P I N G S P A R R O W .
FllINGILLA SOCIJLIS, WlLS.
PLATE CIV. MALE.
FEW birds are more common throughout the United States than this
gentle and harmless little finch. It inhabits the towns, villages, orchards,
gardens, borders of fields, and prairie grounds. Abundant in the whole
of the Middle States during spring, summer, and autumn; it removes to
the southern parts to spend the winter, and there you may meet with it
in flocks almost anywhere, even in the open woods. So social is it in its
character that you see it at that season in company with the Song Sparrow,
the White-throated, the Savannah, the Field, and almost every other species
of the genus. The sandy roads exposed to the sun's rays are daily
visited by it, where, among the excrement of horses and cattle, it searches
for food, or among the tall grasses of our old fields it seeks for seeds, small
berries, and insects of various kinds. Should the weather be cold it enters
the barn-yard, and even presents itself in the piazza. It reaches Louisiana,
the Carolinas, and other southern districts in November, and returns about
the middle of March to the Middle and Eastern States, where it breeds.
Early in May the Chipping Sparrow has already formed its nest,
which it has placed indifferently in the apple or peach tree of the orchard
or garden, in any evergreen bush or cedar, high or low, as it may best
suit, but never on the ground. It is small and comparatively slender, being
formed of a scanty collection of fine dried grass, and lined with horse
or cow hair. The eggs are four or five, of a bright greenish-blue colour,
slightly marked with dark and light-brown spots, chiefly distributed towards
the larger end. They are more pointed at the small end than is common in
this genus. Although timorous, these birds express great anxiety when their
nest is disturbed, especially the female. They generally raise two broods
in the season, south of Pennsylvania, and not unfrequently in Virginia and
Maryland.
The song of this species, if song it can with propriety be called, is
heard at all hours of the day, the bird seeming determined to make up by
quantity for defect in the quality of its notes. Mounted on the topmost
branch of any low tree or bush, or on the end of a fence stake, it emits