160 AMPELID^. 



between the stems. Two nests, described by Yarrell, were 

 composed entirely of dried bents, the finer ones forming 

 the lining ; and others, increasing in substance, made up 

 the exterior. The eggs were from four to six in number, 

 rather smaller than those of the Great Tit, and less pointed, 

 white, and sparingly marked with pale red lines or scratches. 

 The same author observes that "it is very abundant in 

 Holland; and numbers are brought alive from that country 

 to the London markets for sale ; the birds being attractive in 

 confinement from the beauty of the plumage, their graceful 

 form and general sprightliness." I have seen it stated 

 that the moustaches, from which the bird takes its name, 

 are movable, and that their play gives a peculiar anima- 

 tion to the expression of the bird's face, but I have never 

 had an opportunity of verifying this remark. 



THE BOHEMIAN WAXWING. 



BOMBYCILLA GARRULA. 



Feathers of the head elongated, forming a crest ; upper plumage purplish red ; 

 lower the same, but of a lighter tint ; throat and lore black ; greater -wing- 

 coverts black, tipped with white ; primaries black, with a yellow or white 

 angular spot near the extremity, six or eight of the secondaries and 

 tertiaries having the shaft prolonged and terminating in a substance resem- 

 bling red sealing-wax; tail black, tipped with yellow. Length eight inches. 

 Eggs pale blue, with a few streaks of grey and black. 



The Waxwing is an elegant bird, of about the size of a 

 Thrush. It visits this country, and in fact every other 

 European country where it is known at all, at irregular 

 intervals, generally in flocks, which vary in number from 

 eight or ten to some scores. Thus it is everyAvhere a 

 stranger ; and nothing is known of its nesting or summer 

 habits. It is perhaps on account of this ignorance of its 

 natural history, that it has borne a variety of names which 

 are as inappropriate as possible. Temminck describes it 

 under the name Bombycivora, or devourer of Bombyx, 

 a large moth, a name quite unfit for a bird which lives 



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