Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/364

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328
RUSTY GRAKLE.


Young bird fuUy fledged. Plate CLVII. Fig. 3, 3.

Bill and feet brownish-black. Iris pale yellow. Head and neck Ught brown, the rest of the upper parts brownish-black, edged with light red- dish-brown, the rump tinged with grey. A band over the eye, and the fore part and sides of the neck and breast pale yellowish-brown, sides tinged with brown, under tail-coverts dusky.

The Black Haw.

Prunus nigra, Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept. vol. i. p. 331 — Icosandria Monogynia, Linn. Rosace^e, Juks.

Leaves deciduous, ovate, acuminate, unequally serrate, smooth on both sides ; vunbels 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.