124 WOOD WREN. 



base, compressed towards the tip; upper mandible with the ridge rather 

 sharp, the sides convex towards the end, the edges acute and overlapping, 

 the tip slightly declinate and acute; lower mandible narrow, the sides con- 

 vex, the sharp edges inflected. Nostrils elliptical, straight, basal, with a 

 cartilaginous lid above, open and bare. Head ovate, neck short, body rather 

 full. Legs of ordinary length, rather large; tarsus rather long, compressed, 

 covered anteriorly with seven scutella, sharp behind; lateral toes equal and 

 smallest, hind toe strongest; claws rather long, slender, acute, arched, much 

 compressed. 



Plumage soft, blended, slightly glossed. No bristly feathers about the 

 base of the beak. Wings short, broad; the first quill half the length of the 

 second, which is much shorter than the third; the fourth and fifth longest. 

 Tail rather long, broad, graduated, of twelve rounded feathers. 



Bill dusky brown above, lower mandible brownish-yellow, the tip dusky. 

 Iris hazel. Feet flesh-colour, tinged with brown. The general colour of the 

 upper parts is dark reddish-brown, duller, and tinged with grey on the head, 

 indistinctly barred with dark brown; wings and tail undulatingly banded 

 with dark brown, the edges of the outer primaries lighter. The under parts 

 are pale brownish-grey, faintly barred on the fore-neck, breast, and sides, 

 the under tail-coverts distinctly barred. 



Length 4^-, extent of wings 6 T 3 2 -; bill along the ridge -ff, along the edge 

 ■jo - \ tarsus "Y2"» 



This species is most intimately allied to the House Wren, from which it 

 can hardly be distinguished in description, the colours being nearly the same 

 in both. The present species, however, is considerably larger, wants the 

 light coloured line over the eye which is conspicuous in the House Wren, 

 and has the tail much more graduated. 



Arbutus Uva-ursi, Willd. Sp. PI. vol. ii. p. 618.— Decandria Monogynia, Linn. 



This small creeping plant grows in pine barrens, and in rocky and moun- 

 tainous places in the Northern and Eastern States. The berries are scarlet, 

 dry and unpalatable. 



