Perching Birds. 



51 



The Wax-wing. 



The Wax-wing {Ainpelis 

 garnilus). The plumage of 

 this bird is singularly dehcate 

 in tint, being of a drab-brown 

 colour above, becoming grey 

 towards the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts ; the quills are 

 black, with white tips and 

 some \ellow near the end of 

 the outer web. There is a 

 very full crest on the head, of 

 the same colour as the back ; 

 the throat is black and the 

 under tail-coverts chestnut, 

 contrasting with the gre3'ish-drab colour of the under surface. 



The Wax-wing visits us nearly every winter, and sometimes invades Great 

 Britain in large numbers. It breeds in the high north of Europe and America, and 

 wanders south in winter, when it has been found in most countries of Europe. Its 

 food in summer time consists of insects, but in winter it feeds on various kinds of 

 berries, and large numbers of these birds are shot for the market in Russia. The 

 nest is a large but well-built structure, made of twigs and moss with a lining of 

 feathers. The eggs are from five to seven in number, of a lilac-gre}' colour with 

 spots of black or blackish-brown. 



This is one of the representative families of birds of the Old 

 World, where it is represented by a number of species, mostly 

 migratory, but some stationary. The Warblers differ from the 

 Thrushes in having the }-oung plain-coloured like the old birds, 

 and not spotted as in the 

 Turdidic. The latter, like- 

 wise, go through but a single 

 moult, whereas the Warblers 

 moult twice in the year, once 

 in autumn before migration, 

 and again in the spring 

 before they return to their 

 breeding-haunts. 



The BARREn Warbler 

 {Sylvia nisorin]. A rare 

 and accidental visitor, of 

 which some nine specimens 

 have been recorded, eight The Barked Wardlek. 



THE WARBLERS. 



Family 

 SYLVIID.E. 



