VII AMPELIDAE 529 
than in companies ; their flight is strong and rapid, but undulating 
and not sustained, while they are often seen perched on bushes or 
exposed branches, and occasionally hover like a Kestrel. The song 
or whistle is ringing and melodious, varied by harsh chattering or 
creaking sounds; the food consists of insects of all kinds, which 
are captured on the ground, on leaves or flowers, on the backs of 
cattle, or at times upon the wing, individuals often returning to 
their perches like Flycatchers. Drongos are good mimics, fight 
viciously, and are very courageous, mastering even Hawks and 
Crows. The nest is a shallow cup of twigs, roots, leaves, fine 
grass, lichens, hair, and cobwebs, often so slight that the contents 
can be seen from below: it is usually woven into a horizontal 
fork like that of an Oriole, but may be fixed among bamboos, 
and often overhangs water. The eggs, rarely more than three or 
Dore, 
four in number, are sometimes plain white, but usually pink, buff, 
or white, with red, brown, claret, purplish, or grey spots and 
blotches. Not uncommonly a second set is found in a nest whence 
the first has been taken. A curious instance of “ unconscious 
mimicry” is that of Buchanga atra and the Indian Cuckoo Surni- 
culus dicruroides, the plumage being exactly the same, though the 
feet distinguish them at once. 
Fam. XIV. Ampelidae.—In this group most forms have a 
short, depressed bill, though it 1s longer with bristly gape in 
Phaenoptila, and stouter in Dulus; they have abbreviated metatarsi, 
not scutellated in Phaenoptila ; the wings are long and pointed in 
Ampelis, shorter and roundish elsewhere ; the tails vary from short 
and even in Ampelis to long and rounded in Phaenopepla, or 
cuneate with elongated median feathers in Péilogenys caudatus. 
Both sexes of our irregular winter-visitor the Waxwing 
(Ampelis garrulus) are silky greyish-brown, with blackish wings, 
and tail relieved by yellow and white ; a black forehead, eye-stripe, 
and throat; chestnut under tail-coverts and basal margin of the 
erectile crest; and, in the adults, flattened wax-hke tips to the 
shafts of the secondaries or even the rectrices. The young are 
streaked below. Breeding near the Arctic Circle, and changing 
its quarters erratically, it occurs in the New as well as in the 
Old World, while in winter it migrates southwards to at least 
lat. 43° N.. The flight is easy, graceful, and often high; the notes 
are of a trilling or of a chirping nature ; the food consists of insects, 
berries, and other fruit. The nest of twigs and fibrous lichens, or 
VOL. IX 2M 
