THE YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. 163 



From Texas to Connecticut. Inland as far as Kentucky. Abundant. 

 Migratory. 



In an adult male preserved in spirits, the roof of the mouth is nearly flat 

 behind, anteriorly arched and decurved, with a prominent median ridge. 

 The posterior aperture of the nares is linear, 5 twelfths long, with the 

 margins papillate. The tongue is 7 twelfths long, deeply emarginate and 

 papillate at the base, channelled above, tapering to a horny point, which is 

 rather blunt, but terminates in a number of slender bristles, of which there 

 are also some on its edges. The oesophagus is Z\ inches long, funnel-shaped 

 at the commencement, then 3 twelfths in width, and so continuing. The 

 stomach is rather small, considerably compressed, roundish, 7 twelfths long, 

 6 twelfths broad; its muscles moderate and distinct, its tendons rather large; 

 its cuticular lining thin, tough, brownish-red, with six rugae on one side, and 

 four on the other. Its contents are remains of insects. The intestine is Q\ 

 inches long, 1^ twelfths in width; the cceca are extremely minute, being 

 only i twelfth in length. 



The trachea is 1 inch 9 twelfths long, considerably flattened, its breadth 

 1 twelfth. The rings are 70 in number, and 2 dimidiate rings. The bronchi 

 are short, of 10 half rings. There are four pairs of inferior laryngeal 

 muscles, similar to those of the Shrikes. 



The Sweet Briar. 



Rosa rdbiginosa? — Icosandria Polygynia, Linn. — Rosacea, Juss. 



The sweet briar is very generally distributed in the United States. I 

 have found it from Louisiana to the extremities of Nova Scotia along the 

 Atlantic coast, and as far in the interior as I have travelled. The delicious 

 odour of its leaves never fails to gratify the person who brushes through 

 patches of it, while the delicate tints of its flowers reminds one of the love- 

 liness of female beauty in its purest and most blooming state. Truly a 

 "sweet home" must be the nest that is placed in an eglantine bower, and 

 happy must be the bird that in the midst of fragrance is cheered by the 

 warble of her ever loving mate. 



