534 AMPELID^. 



oblong appendage, in colour and substance resembling scarlet 

 sealing-wax, the outer tertial also occasionally bears a like 

 appendage ; these appendages are merely expanded and 

 coloured horny prolongations of the shafts of the feathers 

 beyond their webs ; * tail-quills smoke-grey at the base, black 

 towards the end, and tipped with yellow, the shafts being 

 sometimes slightly tinged with red where the webs are 

 yellow, and some of them occasionally, though rarely, tipped 

 with scarlet wax-like appendages, similar to those of the wings 

 but much smaller ; the chin and throat deep, glossy black ; 

 the base of the lower mandible clothed with white feathers 

 passing into light bay on the sides of the throat, below which 

 both bay and black are blended, into pale brocoli-brown, which 

 prevails on the breast, becoming greyish-brown on the flanks 

 and abdomen ; lower tail-coverts bright bay ; axillaries and 

 lower wing-coverts light ash-grey; quills beneath, shining 

 grey : legs, toes and claws black. 



The whole length is rather more than eight inches. 

 From the carpal joint to the tip of the wing, four inches 

 and a half. 



The female so closely resembles the male that the sexes 

 cannot be unfailingly distinguished externally, but her 

 colours are usually less bright, and in general she has fewer 

 of the scarlet appendages on the wings and never, it is be- 

 lieved, any on the tail. 



Wolley thus describes the nestling obtained by him : — 

 " A young bird caught on the 5th of August, as it fluttered 

 from the nest, had a general resemblance to the adult, 

 though all the colours were more dull. The wax-like ends 

 to the wing-feathers, the yellow tip to the tail, the black 



* The structure of these appendages has been carefully described and compared 

 with similar substances found in other birds by Herr C. H. Andersen (CEfvers. 

 K. Vet.-Ak. Fiirhandl. 1859, pp. 219-231, pi. ii.). Their number in the Wax- 

 wing seems to depend, as Mr. Stevenson suggests, rather on constitutional vigour 

 than on age or sex. Males have seldom less than four and females less than two 

 — though a specimen is rarely seen without any. From five to seven is the 

 average number in the former and from four to six in the latter. They vary 

 much in size and shape. Examples having five or six are generally brightest in 

 plumage. 



