Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/639

WICOMICO Ovoca or Avoca. The county is mountainous, Lugnaquilla, the highest peak, being 3,039 ft. above the sea. Gold and silver are found in small quantities, and also iron, lead, zinc, cop- per, tin, manganese, arsenic, antimony, and pyrites. The soil is moderately productive. The principal towns, besides the capital, are Bray and Arklow. II. A seaport, capital of the county, on the right bank of the estuary of the river Vartrey, 22 m. S. S. E. of Dublin ; pop. in 1871, 3,164. Vessels drawing 8 or 9 ft. enter the harbor, and the town exports grain, and copper and lead ores. WICOMICO, a S. E. county of Maryland, bounded N. by Delaware, E. by the Poco- moke river, and W. by the Nanticoke, and in- tersected by the Wicomico, a tributary of Ches- apeake bay, navigable to Salisbury, about 25 m. ; area, about 350 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 15,- 802, of whom 4,406 were colored. The sur- face is generally low and level, and the soil moderately productive. It is traversed by the Eastern Shore and the Wicomico and Poco- moke railroads. The chief productions in 1870 were 12,103 bushels of wheat, 405,627 of In- dian corn, 17,693 of oats, 31,214 of Irish and 29,127 of sweet potatoes, 48,308 Ibs. of but- ter, and 14,333 of wool. There were 1,521 horses, 5,526 cattle, 5,766 sheep, and 8,822 swine; 2 planing mills, 17 saw mills, and 3 ship yards. Capital, Salisbury. WICOPY, a popular name for Dirca pahistris, a shrub of the mezereum family (thymelacece), WIDGEON 615 Wicopy (Dirca palustris). peculiar to North America, growing in woods from New England to Georgia. Dirca (Gr. AtjO/07, a fountain near Thebes, applied to this by Linnaeus), of which there is but one species, is a much-branched shrub ; its branches, start- ing from near the base, give it a rounded form ; it is commonly from 2 to 6 ft. high, sometimes reaching 12 f t. ; each joint or internode en- larges upward, giving the branches a striking appearance ; the bark, which is yellowish gray, is very tough, while the wood is tender and brittle; the bast cells of the inner bark are among the longest known in woody tissue ; they are from i to in. long, while those of the wood are T ^ in. The deciduous, alter- nate leaves are oval or obovate, 2 to 3 in. long, downy at first, but at length smooth, pale green, the bases of their short petioles con- cealing the buds of the next year. The apet- alous flowers are in clusters of three or four, and precede the leaves, which soon appear from the same hairy bud; the petal-like calyx is pale yellow, about in. long, with an ir- regularly toothed border ; stamens eight, pro- truded, the alternate ones longer; the one- celled, one-ovuled ovary becoming a berry -like, oval, one-seeded, reddish drupe. The plant blooms so profusely in April that it is often cultivated as an ornamental shrub. The most remarkable thing about it is the great tough- ness of its bark, on account of which it is use- ful for thongs, and is sometimes woven into baskets. Leatherwood and moosewood are other common names, but the latter properly belongs to a species of maple. The bark is said to produce vomiting when administered internally, and the berries, like those of the related daphne, to be poisonous. WIDGEON, the common name of the river ducks of the genus mareca (Steph.). They have a bill shorter than the head, of equal width throughout, much rounded at the tip, with a strong broad nail, and upper lamellce prominent ; wings long and pointed, first and second quills longest ; tail moderate and wedge- shaped ; toes fully webbed, and hind one lobed. There are about 10 species in various parts of the world, performing periodical migrations at night in vast flocks ; they are found on the sea shore and on the margin of lakes and rivers, feeding chiefly on vegetable substances. The European Widgeon American widgeon or bald-pate (-. Ameri- cana, Steph.) is about 22 in. long and 35 in. m alar extent ; the tail has 14 feathers, and t bill is blue, black at the base and tip ; upper