o34 BOMBYCILLA GARRULA. 



Male. — This lovely bird, which rarely makes its appearance 

 in our country, and then only in winter, is nearly equal in size 

 to the Song Thrush, and much exceeds the Carolina Waxwing, 

 which is coloured nearly in the same manner. The principal 

 features have been described in the generic character. There 

 are no bristles at the base of the bill ; the feathers on the fore 

 part of the head, forming the tuft or crest, are linear-oblong, 

 slightly decurved, with loose filaments, the largest an inch and 

 a quarter in length ; the other feathers generally are ovato-ob- 

 long ; and the plumage is blended, extremely soft, w^ith a slight 

 gloss, not approaching to silky. The wings are of moderate 

 length, broad, pointed, with the first quill longest, the second 

 scarcely shorter, the other primaries regularly graduated ; all 

 the secondaries, except the inner two, are obliquely rounded, 

 and terminated by a narrow oblong expansion of the pi-olonged 

 shaft, of the colour of red sealing-wax. The tail is of moderate 

 length, even, or very slightly emarginate, the middle feathers 

 being a twelfth of an inch shorter than those next the lateral. 



The tongue is triangular, five twelfths long, sagittate and papil- 

 late at the base, its tip pointed and deeply slit. The oesophagus, 

 PI. XXII, Fig. o,abcd,is three inches and a quarter in length, 

 and is presently enlarged into a kind of crop inclined to the 

 right side, and three quarters of an inch in width. The stomach, 

 d e, is small, and moderately muscular, with a dense longitu- 

 dinally rugous epithelium of a reddish colour. The intestme, 

 e/(/ h i, is ten inches long, very wide ; the coeca, h, two and 

 a half twelfths long ; the rectum very short and dilated into an 

 oblong sac. 



The bill is black, as is the interior of the mouth ; the feet 

 and claws are also black ; the iris purplish-red. The general 

 colour of the plumage is light greyish-brown, anteriorly ap- 

 proaching to brownish-orange, of which colour is the forehead, 

 and posteriorly shaded into ash-grey, but with the lower tail- 

 coverts brownish-orange. A band of black from the base of the 

 upper mandible, includes the loral space, passes over the eye, 

 and terminates on the occiput, where it is concealed by the crest. 

 On the throat is a glossy black patch, about three quarters of 

 an inch in length, margined on each side with a band of which 



