12 BIRDS. 



young of the same colour ; and that the gray owls likewise have young which are 

 gray, and mottled from the very nest. I have seen a specimen, having all the ap- 

 pearances of a very young bird, which was gray and mottled instead of red. Ad- 

 ditional observations must be made, before this question can be decided. 



(^) Mtiodioctes formosus. Several specimens of this beautiful warbler were 

 procured in Cass county, Georgia, during the summer of 1847, by my brother, Jo- 

 seph Le Conte, M. D. of Macon., Dr. Bachman has never found it in South Caro- 

 lina. 



(4) Pious Le Contei. This is a new species of woodpecker, discovered by my 

 young friend Wm. L. Jones, M. D., of Athens, who procured a single specimen in 

 Liberty County, during the Spring of 1847. It is described and figured by him, in 

 the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New- York, for Sept. 1848. (vol. 

 4. No. 12. Sept. 1848 ; p. 489-90.) It is named in honour of Joseph Le Conte, M. D., 

 of Macon, Georgia. The species is tolerably well characterized, although it would 

 be desirable, as suggested by its discoverer, to have it established by further speci- 

 mens. The absence of the first toe may possibly be the result of an arrest of de- 

 velopment ; but, it is proper to remark, that if the deficiency arose from this cause, 

 the laws of monstrosity render it probable that any other than the first toe would 

 have been more likely to be absent. Besides, it is well known that there are two 

 other species of three-toed woodpeckers found in the United States. The speci- 

 men is deposited in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 

 phia. 



(*) Centurus Carolinensis. It is a remarkable fact that our paroquets are 

 very rapidly diminishing in number. Along our maritime districts, where 15 or 

 20 years ago they were plentiful, scarcely any are now to be found ; and it is prob- 

 able, that in a short time they will entirely disappear from our State. 



(*) Tetrao umbellus. This bird is not uncommon in the mountainous dis- 

 tricts of Georgia. 



(7) Grus Americana. Contrary to the opinion of many Naturalists, Audubon 

 and Bachman maintain, that the white crane (G. Americana) and the brown crane, 

 (G. Canadensis) are identical ; the latter, being only the young of the former. 

 The fact that young birds usually associate together, together with the circumstance 

 that many birds breed long before they have attained their full plumage, may, in a 

 measure, serve to remove the difficulty of explaining on the assumption of an 

 identity of species, why it is that the white and brown cranes are seldom, if ever, 

 found associated. But it appears to me that additional observations are required 

 to clear up this difficulty. Many individuals who have resided 40 or 50 years on 

 our pine barrens near the sea-coast, and who have observed the habits of the crane, 

 have informed me that they have never seen a white bird. It is true, that the ob- 

 servations of Audubon and Bachman prove conclusively, that the young of the 

 white crane, like those of most white birds, are dark coloured ; but this is far from 

 being sufficient to establish an identity of species ; for it is possible that the young 

 of the brown bird never becomes while. The only method of deciding the ques- 

 tion is, to procure a specimen of the young of the brown crane, (as it is unques- 

 tionable that birds of this colour do breed,) and to keep it for several years. 



