Adult Male. Plate LXXXIX. Fig. 1.
Plumage soft, blended, tufty. Wings short, curved, the first and second quills longest. Tail short, forked, of twelve rounded feathers.
Bill greenish-brown. Iris dark brown. Feet yellowish-green. Head and cheeks brownish-grey, the upper part of the head dark red. A circle of white round the eye. The general colour of the upper parts is brownish-green, of the under greenish-yellow, brighter on the throat and breast. Inner webs of the wing and tail-feathers dusky, the outer brownish-green, and of the primaries bright yellow.
Length 41⁄2 inches, extent of wings 7; bill along the ridge 1⁄3, along the gap 1⁄2; tarsus 3⁄4.
Adult Female. Plate LXXXIX. Fig. 2.
The female is much duller; the head and hind-neck dark brownish-grey, tinged with green, the former without the red patch, the under parts more mixed with grey, the sides olivaceous, and the yellow of the wings less pure.
The Swamp Spice.
Ilex prinoides, Wild. Sp. Pl. vol. i. p. 709. Pursh, Flor. Amer, vol. 1, p. 118.—Tetrandria Tetragynia, Linn. Rhamni, Juss.
Leaves lanceolate, attenuated at the base, slightly serrated; peduncles one-flowered. The leaves of this species are deciduous, the berries bright red.