76 THE WAXWING 
WOODCHAT SHRIKE 
LANIUS POMERANUS 
Forehead and cheeks black ; nape bright rust colour; back and wings varie- 
gated with black, white, and reddish brown; under parts white; outer 
tail feathers white, with a square black spot at the base on the inner web, 
the two next with the black spot larger, and on both webs, the two middle 
ones wholly black, the rest black tipped with white ; tail slightly rounded ; 
second primary equal in length to the fifth. Female—all her colours 
dingy ; breast marked transversely with fine brown lines. Length, seven 
and a half inches. Eggs bluish white, spotted at the larger end with 
brown and ash-grey. 
THE habits of this bird, which is a very rare visitant to the British 
Isles, differ in no material respect from those of the foregoing 
species. On the Continent it is more frequent in the south than 
the north, where it frequents trees rather than bushes, and gener- 
ally places its nest, which it constructs of twigs, moss, and white 
lichen, in the forked branch of an oak. Like the rest of the family 
it is migratory, coming and departing at the same time as the other 
species. 
FAMILY AMPELID 
THE WAXWING 
AMPELIS GARRULUS 
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 
resembling red sealing-wax; tail black, tipped with yellow. Length 
eight inches. Eggs pale blue, with a few streaks of brown and lilac. 
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 everywhere a stranger ; and little was known till recently of its 
nesting 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 exclusively on fruits and berries. This 
was softened into Bombycilla, which means, I presume, a little 
Bombyx, though the bird in question is far larger than any known 
moth. Its French name Jaseur, equivalent to the English one, 
Chatterer, is quite as inappropriate, as it is singularly silent. In 
default of all certain information, then, I venture to surmise that, 
coming in parties no one knows whence, and going no one knows 
