204 AMERICAN REDSTART. 



plumage blended, soft, glossy. The bill margined at the base with 

 long spreading bristles. Wings of moderate length, third quill longest, 

 second and first little shorter. Tail rather long, rounded. 



Bill brownish-black. Iris dark brown. Feet blackish. Head, neck, 

 fore part of the breast, and upper parts, black, the head, neck, and back 

 glossed with blue. Sides of the breast, and under wing-coverts reddish- 

 orange ; abdomen white. QuiUs brownish-black, their anterior half 

 orange, forming a broad transverse band on the wing. Two middle tail- 

 feathers black, the rest black in their terminal half, yellow in the basal 

 half. 



Length 5 inches, extent of wings 6^ ; bill along the ridge /j, along 

 the gap ^ ; tarsus f , middle toe ^. 



Adult Female. Plate XL. Fig. 2. 



Bill, feet and iris, as in the male. Head and upper parts brownish- 

 grey, the former tinged with blue. Under parts greyish-white, the 

 breast at the sides dull yellow. Band on the wings and at the base of 

 the tail, pale yellow, tinged with green. 



Dimensions nearly as in the male. 



The Virginian Hornbeam, or Iron-wood Tree. 



OsTRYA viRGjyiCA, Wild. Sp. PL voL iv. p. 469. Pursh, Flor. Amer, vol. ii. p. 623. 

 ^MoNCECiA PoLYANDHiA, Linn. Amentace^, Juss, 



This species is distinguished by its ovato-oblong leaves, which are 

 somewhat cordate at the base, unequally serrated and acuminate, and its 

 twin, ovate, acute cones. It is a small tree, attaining a height of from 

 twenty to thirty feet, and a diameter of about one foot. The wood is 

 white, and close-grained. The common name in America is Iron-wood, 

 which it receives on account of the great hardness of the wood. 



