Part Ii. P. 176.

ROBIN, TURDUS MIGRATORIUS, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. i. p. 35. pl. ii. fig. 2.—Nuttall, Manual, part i. p. 338.

Adult Male. Plate CXXXI. Fig. 1.

Bill of moderate length, rather strong, compressed, acute; upper mandible slightly arched in its dorsal line, with acute edges, which are notched close to the declinate tip; lower mandible nearly straight along the back. Nostrils basal, oblong, half closed above by a membrane. The general form is rather slender. Feet longish, rather strong; tarsus compressed, anteriorly covered with a few long scutella, sharp behind; toes scutellate above, free; the outer and middle united to the second joint, claws arched, compressed, acute.

Plumage soft and rather blended. Wings of moderate length rounded, the first primary extremely short, the third and fourth longest. Tail rather long, even, of twelve broad rounded feathers.

Bill lemon-yellow, the tip brownish, in old birds the whole is yellow. Iris hazel. Feet pale brown. Upper part and sides of the head brownish-black, fading on the back of the neck; the upper parts in general, smoke-grey, tinged on the shoulders with brown. The wings and tail blackish-brown, with greyish edges; the first row of small wing-coverts tipped with pale-grey, and the end of the inner web of the outermost tail-feather, together with the tip of the next, white. An interrupted circle of three lines of white round the eye. Chin white, spotted with brownish-black. The under surface generally, including the wing-coverts, reddish-orange, fading on the abdomen into whitish.

Length 10 inches, extent of wings 14; bill along the ridge ¾, along the edge 11/12; tarsus 1-3/12, middle toe 1-3/12.

Adult Female. Plate CXXXI. Fig. 2.

The colours of the female are paler, but resemble those of the male. Her dimensions are a little less, the length varying from 9 to 10 inches.

Young Birds. Plate CXXXI. Fig. 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.

The young birds are spotted with blackish-brown on the fore-neck, breast, and sides, which are of a paler reddish tint; the upper parts have the shafts of the feathers whitish, and the bill is dark-brown. It is remarkable that all the Thrushes known to me which have the breast of a uniform tint when old, have it spotted when young, shewing that in their mode of colouring the different species of the genus agree in this respect at one period or other.

THE ROCK OR CHESTNUT OAK.

QUERCUS MONTANA, Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. iv. p. 440. Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept. vol. ii. p. 634. Mich. Arbr. Forest. vol. i. p. 56. pl. 8.—MONŒCIA POLYANDRIA, Linn. AMENTACEÆ, Juss.

This species of oak is distinguished by its obovate or oblong largely toothed or sinuate leaves, which are acuminate, and tapering at the base, of a deep shining green above, whitish and downy beneath. The cupule is hemispherical, with tuberculate scales; the acorn ovate. It grows to a great size, forming a fine ornament to our woods, and in open situations spreads abroad its branches to a great extent. The wood is valuable, and is much employed in the Western and Southern countries, where, as well as in some of the Middle Districts, it abounds. It prefers elevated situations, and generally occurs in dry gravelly soil.

THE THREE-TOED WOODPECKER.

PICUS TRIDACTYLUS, LINN.

PLATE CXXXII. MALE AND FEMALE.

This curious species of Woodpecker is found in the northern parts of the State of Massachusetts, and in all portions of Maine that are covered by forests of tall trees, in which it constantly resides. I saw a few in the Great Pine Forest of Pennsylvania, and my friend, the Rev. JOHN BACHMAN, observed four near the Falls of Niagara, about twelve years ago, and is of opinion that some may breed in the upper part of the State of New York.

It is a restlessly active bird, spending its time generally on the topmost branches of the tallest trees, without, however, confining itself to pines. Although it cannot be called shy, its habitual restlessness renders it difficult of approach. Its movements resemble those of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, but it is still more petulant than that bird. Like it, it will alight, climb along a branch, seek for insects there, and in a very few moments remove to another part of the same tree, or to another tree at more or less distance, thus spending the day in rambling over a large extent of ground. Its cries also somewhat resemble those of the species above mentioned, but are louder and more shrill, like those of some small quadruped suffering great pain. During the middle hours of the day it becomes silent, and often retires to some concealed place to rest a while. In the afternoon of warm days, it very frequently makes sorties after flying insects, which it seems to secure in the air with as much ease as the Red-headed Woodpecker. Besides insects, it also feeds on berries and other small fruits.

Its flight is rapid, gliding, and deeply undulated, as it shifts from one place to another. Now and then it will fly from a detached tree of a field to a considerable distance before it alights, emitting at every glide a loud shrill note. When alighted, the rolling tappings of its bill against a dead and dried branch are as sonorous as those of the Redhead. I never saw one on the ground, but I have not unfrequently met with them searching the decayed wood of a prostrate tree.

The nest of this species is generally bored in the body of a sound tree, near its first large branches. I observed no particular choice as to the timber, having seen it in oaks, pines, &c. The nest, like that of other allied species, is worked out by both sexes, and takes fully a week before it is completed, its usual depth being from twenty to twenty-four inches. It is smooth and broad at the bottom, although so narrow at its entrance as to appear scarcely sufficient to enable one of the birds to enter it. The eggs are from four to six, rather rounded, and pure white. Only one brood is raised in the season. The young follow their parents until autumn, when they separate and shift for themselves. They do not attain their full plumage until the second year.

The number of these Woodpeckers is greatly increased in the State of Maine during winter, by accessions from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador, in all which countries I have found the species in summer, but where, if I am rightly informed, few remain during severe winters.

PICUS TRIDACTYLUS, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 177.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 243.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 46.

PICUS (APTERNUS) ARCTICUS, Swains. and Richards. Fauna Bor.-Amer. part ii. p. 311.

NORTHERN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER, PICUS TRIDACTYLUS, Ch. Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith. vol. ii. pl. 14. fig. 2.—Nuttall, Manual, part i. p. 578.

Adult Male. Plate CXXXII. Fig. 1. 1.

Bill longish, straight, strong, angular, compressed toward the tip, which is slightly truncate and cuneate; upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge distinct, the sloping sides quite flat, the lateral angle or ridge close to the edges, which are acute and overlapping; lower mandible with the ridge distinct, the sides convex, edges sharp and inflected. Tongue comparatively shorter than that of the Picus villosus, but of the same form, the extensile part being vermiform, the tip flat above, convex below, and serrated backwards on the thin edges. Nostrils basal, elliptical, covered by the feathers. Head rather large, neck short, body robust. Feet very short; tarsus scutellate before and behind; two toes before, one only behind, which is versatile and larger, all scutellate above; claws strong, extremely compressed, very acute, and uncinate.

Plumage blended, glossy, on the back and wings rather compact. Feathers of the top of the head stiff and silky. Wings longish, third and fourth quills longest and equal. Tail graduated, of twelve decurved stiff feathers, worn to a point, excepting the outermost, which is extremely small. Base of the bill covered by recumbent bristly feathers.

Bill bluish-black, the lower mandible greyish-blue, as are the feet, the scutella and claws black. Iris bluish-black. The general colour of the upper parts is deep glossy black, the head with blue reflections, the back with green. Crown of the head yellow tinged with orange. Quills blackish-brown, the outer primaries with seven rows of white spots. Two middle tail-feathers black, two next of the same colour, but with three cream-coloured spots on the edge of the outer web towards the end; two next black at the base, cream-coloured towards the end, black at the tip; two next cream-coloured, with little black at the base, and a mere touch of black on the tip; two next of the same colour, with very little black at the base; the two outermost, which are very short, rounded, and generally concealed, barred with black and cream-colour. A white band from the base of the mandible passes under the eye, and there is a very slender line of the same behind it. Throat, fore neck, and anterior part of the breast, white; the rest of the under parts also white, but barred with black.

Length 10½ inches, extent of wings 16; bill along the ridge 1-2/12, along the edge 7/12; tarsus 11/12, middle toe and claw 11/12, of hind toe and claw 1¼.

Adult Female. Plate CXXXII. Fig. 2.

The female wants the yellow patch on the crown of the head, and has the line of white behind the eye rather more conspicuous, but in other respects resembles the male.

THE BLACK-POLL WARBLER.

SYLVIA STRIATA, LATH.

PLATE CXXXIII. MALE AND FEMALE.

No sooner had the Ripley come to an anchor in the curious harbour of Labrador, known by the name of Little Macatina, than my party and myself sought the shore;—but before I proceed, let me describe this singular place. It was the middle of July, the weather was mild and pleasant, our vessel made her way under a smart breeze through a very narrow passage, beyond which we found ourselves in a small circular basin of water, having an extent of seven or eight acres. It was so surrounded by high, abrupt, and rugged rocks, that, as I glanced around, I could find no apter comparison for our situation than that of a nut-shell in the bottom of a basin. The dark shadows that overspread the waters, and the mournful silence of the surrounding desert, sombred our otherwise glad feelings into a state of awe. The scenery was grand and melancholy. On one side, hung over our heads, in stupendous masses, a rock several hundred feet high, the fissures of which might to some have looked like the mouths of some huge undefined monster. Here and there a few dwarf-pines were stuck as if by magic to this enormous mass of granite; in a gap of the cliff the brood of a pair of grim Ravens shrunk from our sight, and the Gulls, one after another, began to wend their way overhead towards the middle of the quiet pool, as the furling of the sails was accompanied by the glad cries of the sailors. The remarkable land-beacons erected in that country to guide vessels into the harbour, looked like so many figures of gigantic stature formed from the large blocks that lay on every hill around. A low valley, in which meandered a rivulet, opened at a distance to the view. The remains of a deserted camp of seal-catchers was easily traced from our deck, and as easily could we perceive the innate tendency of man to mischief, in the charred and crumbling ruins of the dwarf-pine forests. But the harbour was so safe and commodious, that, before we left it to find shelter in another, we had cause to be thankful for its friendly protection.

We were accoutred for the occasion, and, as I have said, instantly made for the shore. Anxious to receive as much information as possible in a given time, we separated. The more active scaled the most difficult heights, and among them was our Captain, Mr EMERY, than whom a more expert seaman and a better man is rarely to be found. Others chose the next most difficult place of ascent; while I and my young friend Dr SHATTUCK of Boston, slowly moved along in quest of birds, plants, and other objects. We soon reached a considerable elevation, from which we beheld the broad Gulf of St Lawrence gathering its gray vapours, as if about to cover itself with a mantle; while now and then our eye was suddenly attracted by the gliding movements of our distant parties, as they slipped down the declivities. In this manner we had surveyed the country for several miles, when the sea-fog began to approach the land so swiftly, that, with the knowledge we all had acquired of the difficulty of proceeding overland when surprised by it, we judged it prudent to return to our vessel. There we compared notes, and made preparations for the morrow.

One fair morning, while several of us were scrambling through one of the thickets of trees, scarcely waist-high, my youngest son chanced to scare from her nest a female of the Black-poll Warbler. Reader, just fancy how this raised my spirits. I felt as if the enormous expense of our voyage had been refunded. "There," said I, "we are the first white men who have seen such a nest." I peeped into it, saw that it contained four eggs, and observed its little owner looking upon us with anxiety and astonishment. It was placed about three feet from the ground, in the fork of a small branch, close to the main stem of a fir tree. Its diameter internally was two inches, the depth one and a half. Externally it resembled the nest of the White-crowned Sparrow, being formed of green and white moss and lichens, intermixed with coarse dried grass; within this was a layer of bent grass, and the lining was of very dark-coloured dry moss, looking precisely like horse-hair, arranged in a circular direction with great care. Lastly, there was a thick bed of large soft feathers, some of which were from Ducks, but most of them from the Willow Grouse.

I must now return to the United States, and trace the progress of our Warbler. It enters Louisiana as early as the middle of February. At this time it is seen gleaning food among the taller branches of the willows, maples, and other trees that overhang the rivers and lakes. Its migrations eastward follow the advance of the season, and I have not been able to comprehend why it is never seen in the maritime parts of South Carolina, while it is abundantly found in the State of New Jersey close to the sea shore. There you would think that it had changed its habits; for, instead of skipping among the taller branches of trees, it is seen moving along the trunks and large limbs, almost in the manner of a Certhia, searching the chinks of the bark for larvæ and pupæ. They are met with in groups of ten, twelve, or more, in the end of April, but after that period few are to be seen. In Massachusetts they begin to appear nearly a month later, the intervening time being no doubt spent on their passage through New York and Connecticut. I found them at the end of May in the eastern part of Maine, and met with them wherever we landed on our voyage to Labrador, where they arrive from the 1st to the 10th of June, throwing themselves into every valley covered by those thickets, which they prefer for their breeding places. It also breeds abundantly in Newfoundland.

In these countries it has almost become a Flycatcher. You see it darting in all directions after insects, chasing them on wing, and not unfrequently snapping so as to emit the clicking sound characteristic of the true Flycatcher. Its activity is pleasing, but its notes have no title to be called a song. They are shrill, and resemble the noise made by striking two small pebbles together, more than any other sound that I know. They may be in some degree imitated by pronouncing the syllable sche, sche, sche, sche, sche, so as progressively to increase the emphasis.

I found the young fully grown in the latter part of August, but with the head as in the females, and like them they obtain their full plumage during the next spring migration, after which these birds return southward. They raise only one brood in the season, and if any of them breed in the United States, it must be in the northern parts. They are seldom seen in autumn in the States, and very seldom during the summer months.

The Black-poll Warbler is a gentle bird, by no means afraid of man, although it pursues some of its smaller enemies with considerable courage. The sight of a Canadian Jay excites it greatly, as that marauder often sucks its eggs, or swallows its young. In a few instances I have seen the Jay confounded by the temerity of its puny assailant.

The occurrence of this species so far north in the breeding season, and the curious diversity of its habits in different parts of the vast extent of country which it traverses, are to me quite surprising, and lead me to add some remarks on the migration of various species of Sylvia, which, like the present, seem to skip, as it were, over large portions of the country.

In the course of my voyages to the south-eastern extremity of the Peninsula of the Floridas, I frequently observed birds of many kinds flying either high or low over the sea. Of these the greater number were, like the present species, Sylviæ which are never found in Georgia or the two Carolinas. Their course was a direct one, and such as led me to believe that the little voyagers were bound for Cape Hatteras. The meeting with many of the species to which I allude, along the shores of Maryland, New Jersey, the eastern coast of Long Island, &c., and all along to the Bay of Fundy, has strengthened the idea; but as I may not be correct, I leave the matter to the determination of more experienced observers. The subject appears to me to be one of the greatest importance, for the occurrence of plants in certain parts of a country and not in others may possibly be caused by the absence, during migration, of such birds as move by "short cuts" from one point of land to another.

SYLVIA STRIATA, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 61.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 81.

SYLVICOLA STRIATA, Swains. and Richards. Fauna Bor.-Amer.