311 



The Cockle-bur. 



Xanthium Strumarium, Willd.. Sp. PI., vol. iv. p. 373. Pursh, Flor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 

 581. Smith, Engl. Fl., vol. iv. p. 136.— Moncecia Pentandria, Linn. — Corymeiferje, 

 Juss. 



Root fibrous; stem solitary, erect, branched, from three to six feet high, 

 furrowed, downy; leaves on long petioles, cordate, lobed, serrate, scabrous, 

 three-nerved at the base; clusters axillar, of four or five fertile, and one or 

 two barren flowers, which are green; nuts densely armed, and furnished 

 with two beaks. 



FAMILY XXIX.— COLUMBINE. PIGEONS. 



Bill short, soft for half its length, horny toward the end; upper mandible 

 with a tumid fleshy covering at the base, its dorsal line straight, toward the 

 end convex and deflected, the tip narrow, but obtuse; lower mandible at its 

 base wider than the upper, its sides elastic and slender, the angle long and 

 obtuse, the dorsal line short and convex, the tip obtuse. Nostrils linear in 

 the lower and fore part of the nasal membrane. Head small, oblong; neck 

 of moderate length; body rather full. Feet short; tarsus partially feathered, 

 scutellate, or scaly; toes four, on the same level, broad beneath, marginate; 

 the first short, the lateral nearly equal, all scutellate above. Claws mode- 

 rate, arched, compressed, rather blunt. Plumage generally compact, the 

 feathers with thick spongy shaft, and destitute of plumule. Wings and tail 

 various. Tongue rather broad at the base, toward the end narrow, horny, 

 induplicate, pointed; oesophagus very wide, enlarged into an enormous crop; 

 stomach a very large and strong gizzard, placed obliquely, its lateral muscles 

 exceedingly thick, the lower prominent, the tendons very large, the epi- 

 thelium dense, with longitudinal broad rugae, and two opposite grinding 

 surfaces; intestine long, of moderate width; cceca very small; cloaca oblong. 

 Trachea simple, flattened, with a single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles. 

 Nest flat, rudely constructed. Eggs two, elliptical, white. 



