68 THE RUSTY GRAKLE. 



Length 8^| inches, extent of wings 13^. 



In a male preserved in spirits, the palate is slightly ascending, with two 

 papillate ridges; the posterior aperture of the nares 5 twelfths long, margined 

 with small papilla?; the upper mandible beneath slightly concave, with three 

 longitudinal ridges and four grooves. The tongue is 9 twelfths long, narrow, 

 very thin, concave above, sagittate and papillate at the base, the tip slit and 

 lacerated, forming two elongated points. The tongue is thus very different 

 from that of the Buntings and Finches, which generally have it deeper than 

 broad, and is similar to that of the Crows, Starlings, Thrushes, &c. The 

 breadth of the mouth is 5^ twelfths. The oesophagus is 3 inches long, its 

 greatest width 5 twelfths, on entering the thorax contracting to 2\ twelfths. 

 The stomach is elliptical, rather large, 10 twelfths in length, 7 twelfths in 

 breadth; the lateral muscles rather thin, the tendons large; the epithelium 

 thin, dense, reddish-brown, longitudinally rugous. The stomach is filled 

 with small seeds and insects, together with some grains of quartz. The 

 intestine is \\\ inches long, from 2| twelfths to 2 twelfths in width; the 

 coeca 3 twelfths long, \ twelfth in width, 10 twelfths distant from the 

 extremity. 



The trachea is 2 inches 4 twelfths long, considerably flattened; its rings, 

 which are firm, about 80, with 2 additional rings. Bronchial half rings 

 about 15. Four pairs of inferior laryngeal muscles, which are large and well 

 defined. 



In all the Quiscali, Icteri, and other birds of this group, there are slender 

 salivary glands as in the Thrushes and Warblers, as well as the Finches and 

 Buntings. 



The Black Haw. 



Prunos nigra, Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept., vol. i. p. 331. — Icosandria Monogynia, Linn. 

 — Rosacea, Juss. 



Leaves deciduous, ovate, acuminate, unequally serrate, smooth on both 

 sides; umbels sessile, solitary, few-flowered. 



This species of Prunus, which is tolerably abundant in Louisiana, the only 

 State in which I have observed it, grows along the borders of the forest, and 

 often attains a height of thirty or more feet. Its leaves fall at a very early 

 period, but its fruits, which are pleasant to the taste, remain until after the 

 first frosts, or until devoured by birds, opossums, squirrels, or racoons. 



