AMPELID.E. 183 



flocks, consisting of many liundreds, especially 

 wlieu on tlieir migrations. Their food consists of 

 various kinds of fruit ; and as tke fruits become 

 scarce tliey feed on insects, capturing them in the 

 same way as the Flycatchers. Their nest is placed 

 in the fork of a tree some few feet from the ground ; 

 it is composed of coarse grass, lined within ^vith 

 fine materials, on which are deposited three or four 

 eo'o's. 



The only European example, and the type of the 

 race, is — 



The Bohemian or Wandering Wax-wing {Ampelis 

 garrula), so called on account of its migrations. In its 

 habits, the Wax-wing resembles the Tits, and it feeds on 

 fruits, berries, and seeds, as well as insects. Its most 

 distinctive feature, however, is, that in the adult bird 

 four of the secondary quills, and several of the tertials, 

 are terminated by flat palettes, resembling red sealing- 

 wax, attaclied to the extremity of the shaft of each 

 featlier ; and from this circumstance it has received the 

 appropriate name of Wax-wing. 



The Wax- wings are gregarious birds, assembling iu 

 large flocks, and congregating so closely together that 

 numbers have been killed by the discharge of a smgle 

 gun. " Near Christiania, in Norway," writes a corres- 

 pondent to the Field newspaper, " there have been for 

 the last month immense flocks of Wax- wing Chatterers 

 quite close to the house. They are not at all shy, 

 allowmg a person to approach easily withm shot. They 

 come into all the gardens round, by thousands, in quest 

 of the berries of a tree, which I believe is the mountain 

 ash. Some of the flocks contained several thousands, 

 but are now diminished in numbers, on account of some 

 having gone southwards, and others ha\'mg been killed. 

 They make a great noise when sitting together, as they 

 do m large numbers. On one occasion I killed twenty 

 at one shot, at another eighteen, and at another seventeen. 

 So exactly do the red ornaments of the wings and tail 

 resemble sealing-wax, that it is difficult to persuade an 

 unaccustomed observer that they are the gifts of nature, 

 and not rather purposely attached to the bird by some 

 one desirous to impose on his credulitv." 

 K 2 



