THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 203 



Trachea 1 inch 10 twelfths long, from 1| twelfths to \ twelfth in breadth; 

 its rings 52; the muscles as in the other species. Bronchial half rings 

 about 12. 



The Wild Almond. 

 Prdnus caroliniana, Willd., Sp. PL, vol. ii. p. 987. Pursch, PL Amer. Sept., vol. i. p. 



330.— ICOSANDRIA M.ONOGYNIA, Liillll. — RoSACE-E, JuSS. 



Flowers in racemes; leaves evergreen, oblong-lanceolate, mucronate, 

 serrate, without glands at the base. The wild almond is altogether a 

 southern tree. Its height now and then is as much as twenty-five feet, the 

 stem in that case being a foot or more in diameter. The usual rounded form 

 of its top, and the persistence of its foliage, together with its white flowers, 

 and dark coloured fruits, render it a very agreeable object. Many are 

 planted around the plantation grounds or the gardens of our southern cities, 

 on account of their beautiful appearance. The fruits are greedily devoured 

 by many species of birds, but are unpalatable to man. I have not observed 

 it to the east of Virginia, nor farther west than the town of Memphis on the 

 Mississippi. The wood is seldom applied to any useful purpose. 



Genus XVI.— COCCOBORUS, Swains. SONG-GROSBEAK. 



Bill rather short, extremely robust, almost as broad as the head, and some- 

 what compressed, tapering to a point; upper mandible considerably smaller 

 than the lower, with the dorsal line convex, the ridge indistinct, the nasal 

 sinus very wide, the sides convex, the edges ascending for a third of their 

 length, then direct, with a slight festoon, and inflected, the notches faint, the 

 tip a little deflected, and narrow; lower mandible with the angle short and 

 semicircular, the dorsal line straight, the sides at the base inflected, toward 

 the end convex, the edges involute, the tip acute. Nostrils basal, round. 

 Plumage somewhat compact, blended; distinct bristles at the base of the 

 upper mandible. Wings of moderate length, pointed, the outer three quills 

 nearly equal, the second longest. Tail of moderate length, slightly emargi- 



