Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/569

This page needs to be proofread.
WILLOW GROUS.
333


Young a few days old. Plate CXCI. Fig. 3, 3.

The young are covered with a dense elastic down, of a yellowish tint, variegated above with a few large streaks of dark brown, on a light brown ground ; the top of the head with a longitudinal brown patch mar- gined with black.

The Young when fully fledged resemble the Female.

The Labrador Tea Plant.

Ledum latifolium, IVilld. Sp. PL vol. ii. p. 602. Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. vol. i. p. 301 Decandria Monogynia, Linn. Riiododendha, Juss.

The Labrador Tea Plant springs up among the rich and thick moss that everywhere covers the country of Labrador. I was informed that the fishermen and Indians frequently make use of it instead of tea.

It is a small shrub, about a foot in height, with linear oblong leaves, which are folded back at the margin, and covered on the back with a rust-coloured down. The flowers are white.

The Sea Pea.

PisuM makitimum, Willd. Sp. PI. vol. iii. p. IO7I. Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept. vol. ii. p. 470 Diadelphia Decandria, Linn. LeguminosjE, Juss.

This species of Pea grows in the same country, generally in the vicinity of the sea. It has an angular stem, with sagittate stipules, and many-flowered peduncles, with large purple, blue and red flowers.