124 
WOOD WEES'. 
base, compressed towards the tip ; upper mandible with the ridge rather 
sharp, the sides convex towards the end, the edges acute and overlapping, 
the tip slightly declinate and acute ; lower mandible narrow, the sides 
convex, the sharp edges inflected. Nostrils elliptical, straight, basal, with 
a cartilaginous lid above, open and bare. Head ovate, neck short, body 
rather full. Legs of ordinary length, rather large ; tarsus rather long, 
compressed, covered anteriorly with seven scutella, sharp behind ; lateral 
toes equal and smallest, hind toe strongest; claws rather long, slender, 
acute, arched, much compressed. 
Plumage soft, blended, slightly glossed. No bristly feathers about the 
base of the beak. Wings short, broad ; the first quill half the length of 
the second, which is much shorter than the third ; the fourth and fifth 
longest. Tail rather long, broad, graduated, of twelve rounded feathers. 
Bill dusky brown above, lower mandible brownish-yellow, the tip dusky. 
Iris hazel. Feet flesh-colour, tinged with brown. The general colour of 
the upper parts is dark reddish-brown, duller, and tinged with grey on the 
head, indistinctly barred with dark-brown ; wings and tail undulatingly 
banded with dark-brown, the edges of the outer primaries lighter. The 
under parts are pale brownish-grey, faintly barred on the fore-neck, breast, 
and sides, the under tail-coverts distinctly barred. 
Length 4^-, extent of wings GyV ; bill along the ridge -f±, along the edge 
; tarsus t 8 2 . 
This species is most intimately allied to the House Wren, from which it 
can hardly be distinguished in description, the colours being nearly the 
same in both. The present species, however, is considerably larger, wants 
the light coloured line over the eye which is conspicuous in the House 
Wren, and has the tail much more graduated. 
Arbutus Uva-ursi, Willd. Sp. PL, vol. ii. p. 618. — Decandria Monogynia, Linn. 
This small creeping plant grows in pine barrens, and in rocky and 
mountainous places in the Northern and Eastern States. The berries are 
scarlet, dry and unpalatable. 
