142 CHATTERERS. 



The only European example, and the type of the race, is — 



The Bohemian or "Wandering "Wax- Wing {Avipelis garrjild), so 

 called on account of its migrations. In its habits the wax-wing resembles the 

 tits, and it feeds on fruits, berries, and seeds, as well as insects. Its most dis- 

 tinctive feature, however, is, that in the adult bird four of the secondary quills 

 and several of the tertials are terminated by flat palettes, resembling red 

 sealing-wax, attached to the extremity of the shaft of each feather; and from 

 this circumstance it has received the appropriate name of " wax-wing." 



The wax-wings are gregarious birds, assembling in large flocks, and con- 

 gregating so closely together that numbers have been killed by the discharge 

 of a single gun. " Near Christiana, in Norway," writes a correspondent to 

 the Field newspaper, " there have been, for the last month, immense flocks of 

 wax-wing chatterers quite close to the house. They are not at all shy, allow- 

 ing a person to approach easily within shot. They come into all the gardens 

 round by thousands, in quest of the berries of a tree which I believe is the 

 mountain ash. Some of the flocks contained several thousands, but are now 

 diminished in numbers, on account of some having gone southwards and others 

 having been killed. They make a great noise when sitting together, as they 

 do in large numbers. On one occasion I killed twenty at one shot, at another 

 eighteen, and at another seventeen. So exactly do the red ornaments of the 

 wings and tail resemble sealing-wax, that it is difficult to persuade an unac- 

 customed observer that they are the gifts of Nature, and not rather purposely 

 attached to the bird by some one desirous to impose on his credulity." 



Siib-Faviily IV. 



THE CUCKOO SHRIKES. CAMrEPHAGIN.E. * 



General Characteristics.— Bill short and rather depressed, with the culmen slightly 

 curved, and the sides compressed to the tip, which is emarginated, and sometimes 

 hooked ; the gape furnished with a few short bristles ; the nostrils basal, rounded, 

 and more or less exposed ; the wings moderate, with the third, fourth, and fifth quills 

 the longest ; the tail long and rounded on the sides ; the tarsi short and covered with 

 transverse scales ; the toes generally short, and the lateral one unequal ; the claws 

 moderate, compressed, and much curved. 



These birds are found in Africa and Australia, as well as in 

 India and the neighbouring islands. They are shy and wary, and 

 are usually seen upon trees slowly and carefully searching among 

 the foliage and examining the leaves for all kinds of soft insects, 

 such as caterpillars, mantides, and grasshoppers ; moreover, they 

 occasionally feed on the fruit of the banyan tree. They continue 

 their search, hopping from branch to branch, until every bough 



* Kafiirri, campe, a cata-pillar ; 0d7w, phage, to eat: caterpillar-eater. 



