Nothing can be more gladdening to the traveller, when passing through the uninhabited woods of East Florida, than the wild orange groves which he sometimes meets with. As I approached them, the rich perfume of the blossoms, the golden hue of the fruits, that hung on every twig, and lay scattered on the ground, and the deep green of the glossy leaves, never failed to produce the most pleasing effect on my mind. Not a branch has suffered from the pruning knife, and the graceful form of the trees retains the elegance it received from nature. Raising their tops into the open air, they allow the uppermost blossoms and fruits to receive the unbroken rays of the sun, which one might be tempted to think are conveyed from flower to flower, and from fruit to fruit, so rich and balmy are all. The pulp of these fruits quenches your thirst at once, and the very air you breathe in such a place refreshes and reinvigorates you. I have passed through groves of these orange trees fully a mile in extent. Their occurrence is a sure indication of good land, which in the south-eastern portion of that country is rather scarce. The Seminole Indians and poorer Squatters feed their horses on oranges, which these animals seem to eat with much relish. The immediate vicinity of a wild orange grove is of some importance to the planters, who have the fruits collected and squeezed in a horse mill. The juice is barrelled and sent to different markets, being in request as an ingredient in cooling drinks. The straight young shoots are cut and shipped in bundles, to be used as walking sticks.
Sylvia petechia, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 535.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 83.
Yellow Red-poll Warbler, Sylvia petechia, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vi. p. 19. pl. 28. fig. 4. Male.—Nuttall, Manual, p. 364.
Sylvicola petechia, Swains. and Richards. Fauna Bor.-Amer. part i. p. 215.
Adult Male in Winter. Plate CXLV. Fig. 1.
Bill short, straight, conico-subulate, very slender, acute. Nostrils basal, lateral, oval, half closed by a membrane. Head rather small; neck short, body slender. Feet of ordinary length, slender; tarsus longer than the middle toe, covered anteriorly by a few scutella, the upper ones long; toes scutellate above, the inner free, the hind toe of moderate size; claws slender, compressed, acute, arched.
Plumage soft and blended, with little gloss. Wings of ordinary length, acute, the second quill longest, the secondaries rather long and rounded. Tail of moderate length, emarginate. Bristles at the base of the bill.
Bill dusky-brown above, yellowish beneath. Iris deep brown. Feet umber-brown. The general colour of the plumage above is yellow-olive, streaked with dark brown; crown of the head brownish-red, margined on each side with a line of pale-yellow over the eye; rump and tail-coverts greenish-yellow; quills blackish-brown, edged with yellow-olive; tail of the colour of the wings, the two lateral feathers white in their whole breadth towards the end, forming a white band across the tail beneath when it is closed. The sides of the head are yellow, with two dusky bands, and the lower parts generally are bright yellow, the fore-neck, breast and sides streaked with brownish-red.
Length 4½ inches, extent of wings 8½; bill along the back 4½⁄12, along the edge ½; tarsus ¾.
Adult Female. Plate CXLV. Fig. 2.