Length 14 inches, extent of wings 22; bill along the ridge 1 1⁄12, gap, measured from the tip of the lower mandible, ½; tarsus ⅚, middle toe 1¼.
Adult Female. Plate XXVI. Fig. 2, 2, 2.
The female is similar to the male in colour. The upper figure represents a kind of occasional variety, with fourteen tail-feathers. The specimen from which the drawing was taken was shot at Bayou Sara, in Louisiana.
Young Bird. Plate XXVI. Fig. 3.
The young bird is known by the comparative shortness of the tail, and the uniform green colour of the head.
The Cockle-bur.
Xanthium Strumarium, Willd. Sp. Pl. vol iv. p. 373. Pursh, Flor. Amer. vol. ii. p. 581. Smith, Engl. Fl. vol. iv. p. 136.—Monœcia Pentandria, Linn. Corymbiferæ, 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.