68 
THE RUSTY GRAKLE. 
Length inches, extent of wings 131. 
In a male preserved in spirits, the palate is slightly ascending, with two 
papillate ridges ; the posterior aperture of the nares 5 twelfths long, mar- 
gined with small papillae ; the upper mandible beneath slightly concave, 
with three longitudinal ridges and four grooves. The tongue is 9 twelfths 
long, narrower, 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 gene- 
rally have it deeper than broad, and is similar to that of the Crows, Star- 
lings, Thrushes, &c. The breadth of the mouth is 5i twelfths. The oesopha- 
gus 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 11J inches long, from 2J twelfths 
to 2 twelfths in width ; the coeca 3 twelfths long, i 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. 
Prunus 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. 
