BOJIBYCILLA. 



BOMBYCILLA. 



663 



it ; and it is even satisfied with bran steeped in water. It swallows 

 everything voraciously, and refuses nothing eatable, such as potatoes, 

 cabbage, salad, fruit of all sorts, and especially white bread. It likes 

 to bathe, or rather to sprinkle itself with water, for it does not wet 

 itself so much as other birds. 



It is taken in nooses, to which berries are fixed, which for this 

 purpose, says the author last quoted, " should always be kept in store 

 till February. It appears to be frightened at nothing, for it flies into 

 nets and traps, though it sees its companions caught, and hanging and 

 uttering cries of distress and fear.'V 



Length about eight inches ; the size altogether approaching that of 

 a starling. 



Male. Bill strong, black, except at the base, where the colour 

 inclines to a yellowish-white; nostrils hidden under small black 

 feathers. Irides purplish-red. Chin and throat velvety black, as is 

 also the streak (in the midst of which is the eye) passing from the 

 bill to the hinder part of the head. Forehead reddish-brown. Head 

 feathers long, silky, forming a reclining crest approaching to reddish- 

 chestnut, which the bird can erect or depress at pleasure. Upper 

 parts purplish-red, or vinaceous-brown dashed with ash-colour, the 

 rump lightest. Breast and belly pale purplish-ash, tinged with pale 

 brownish-red. Vent and under tail-coverts orange-brown inclining to 

 reddish-orange. Greater wing-coverts black, tipped with white. 

 Lesser wing-coverts of a shade darker than the general tint of the 

 upper plumage. Primaries black, with a bright yellow spot near the 

 white tips of their outer webs. Montagu says that the three first are 

 tipped with white, and the others with yellow on their outer margins. 

 Secondaries gray, tipped with white on the outer web, and seven or 

 eight of them terminated with small flattish, oval, horny appendages, 

 of the colour of red sealing-wax. Sometimes there are not more than 

 5 or 6 of these wax-like tips, and in Montagu's specimen there were 



5 on one side and 6 on the other. Graves gives the number at from 



6 to 9 (Bechstein at from 5 to 9), and mentions the specimen in Mr. 

 Haworth's collection, which had some on the tail, which is black 

 tipped with yellow, and dashed with ash-colour at the base. Shanks, 

 toes, and claws, bhick. 



European Wax- Wing (Bombycitla garrula], male. 



Female. Generally similar to the male; but the yellow on the 

 wings and tail is not so bright, nor are the wax-like appendages so 

 large or so numerous. 



The flesh of this species is said 1 to be delicate food. 



S. Carolinenmt, the American Wax-Wing, or Cedar-Bird, was 

 considered by some of the older naturalists to be identical with the 

 European species, from which it had degenerated. 



This species is the Ampelit garrulut, var. p. of the 'Systema 

 Natura ' ; Garrulw Carolinerurii, le Jaseur de Caroline, the Chatterer 

 of Catesby ; Turdm garrulu* Carolinmtit of Klein ; Coquantotot of 

 Hernandez; Anit Americana criMata, Xomotl dicta of Seba; Chatterer 

 of Carolina of Edwards ; Cedar-Bird, Ampelit Americana, of Wilson ; 

 Becollet of the Canadian Voyageurs; Bombycilla Carolinentit of 

 Briiwon, Bonaparte, Audubon, and others. It is said to be found in the 

 whole extent between Mexico and Canada, and parties arc said 

 occasionally to roam as far south as the forests of Guyana. In the 

 United States it is a resident during the whole year, the northern and 

 middle states being its more usual quarters in the summer, and the 

 southern in the winter season. It is stated that the bird has been 

 found on the north-west coast of America, but its northern boundary 



HAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. I. 



appears to fall short of that of Bombycilla Bohtmica. Say i 

 the Winnipeg River, in lat. 50, and Sir John Kichardson 



saw it near 

 ichardson states his 



belief that it has not been hitherto observed to the northward of the 

 54th parallel. He says that Mr. Drummond saw several small 

 flocks on the south branch of the Saskatchewan on the 27th June, and 

 gives a description of a male killed there in lat. 52 on that day, 

 1827. He adds that it frequents the northern shores of Lake Huron 

 and of Lake Superior in summer. 



The Cedar-Birds utter a feeble lisping sound, and fly, says Wilson, 

 " in compact bodies of from twenty to fifty ; and usually alight so 

 close together on the same tree, that one half are frequently shot 

 down at a time. In the months of July and August they collect 

 together in flocks, and retire to the hilly parts of the state, the Blue 

 Mountains, and other collateral ridges of the Alleghany, to enjoy the 

 fruit of the Vaccinium tUiyinosum, Whortleberries, which grow there 

 in great abundance, whole mountains for many miles being almost 

 entirely covered with them ; and where in the month of August I 

 have myself found the cedar-birds numerous. In October they 

 descend to the lower cultivated parts of the country, to feed on the 

 berries of the sour gum and red cedar, of which last they are immo- 

 derately fond ; and thirty or forty may sometimes be seen fluttering 

 among the branches of one small cedar-tree, plucking off the 



berries In the fall and beginning of summer, when they 



become very fat, they are in considerable esteem for the table ; and 

 great numbers are brought to the market of Philadelphia, where they 

 are sold at from twelve to twenty-five cents per dozen. During the 

 whole winter and spring they are occasionally seen ; and about the 

 25th of May appear in numerous parties, making great havoc among 

 the early cherries, selecting the best and ripest of the fruit." Audubon 

 says that they reach Louisiana about the beginning of November, and 

 retire towards the middle districts in the beginning of March. " The 

 holly," writes the author last quoted, "the vines, the persimon, the 

 pride of China, and various other trees, supply them with plenty of 

 berries and fruits, on which they fatten, and become so tender and 

 juicy as to be sought by every epicure for the table. I have knuwu an 

 instance of a basketful of these little birds having been forwarded to 

 New Orleans as a Christmas present." And delicious these fruit- 

 eating birds (for such is their general diet, albeit they are said to be 

 excellent fly-catchers) undoubtedly are ; though Hernandez, who 

 met with them near Tetzeuco (apud Tetzcoquenses), says that neither 

 in their song nor in the flavour of their flesh are they better than 

 other small birds ( " neque est cantu aut nutrimento ctctcris aviculis 

 commendatior"). Their appetite is extraordinary : " They gorge them- 

 selves," observes Audubon, " to such excess, as sometimes to bo 

 unable to fly, and suffer themselves to be taken by the hand. Indeed 

 I have seen some which, although wounded and confined in a cage, 

 have eaten of apples until suffocation deprived them of life in the 

 course of a few days. When opened afterwards they were found to 

 be gorged to the mouth." 



Notwithstanding this greediness they are, according to some writers, 

 remarkable for their social and kindly disposition in a state of nature. 

 Nuttall, on the authority of an eye-witness, states that one among a 

 row of these birds seated upon a branch, darted after an insect, and 

 offered it to his associate when caught, who very disinterestedly passed 

 it to' the next, and each delicately declining the offer, the morsel went 

 backwards and forwards before it was appropriated. 



After fattening on the fruits of May and early June they begin to 

 turn their attention to the continuation of their species, and com- 

 mence about the 10th or 12th of the latter month building a nest 

 large in proportion to the bird, sometimes in their favourite cedar- 

 tree (Juniperm Yirginiana, Willd.), but more frequently in the 

 orchards, generally choosing a forked or horizontal branch of an apple- 

 tree, some ten or twelve feet from the ground. Outwardly and at 

 the bottom is laid a mass of coarse dry stalks of grass ; the inside is 

 lined entirely with very fine stalks of the same material. The eggs 

 are three or four, of a dingy bluish-white, thick at the great end, taper- 

 ing suddenly, and becoming very narrow at the other, marked with 

 small roundish spots of black of various sizes and shades ; and the 

 great end is of a pale dull purple tinge, marked likewise with touches 

 of various shades of purple and black. About the last week in June 

 the young are hatched, and are at first fed on insects and their larvae, 

 but as they advance in growth on berries of various kinds. 



The following is Nuttall's account of the manners of this bird in 

 captivity : 



" A young bird from one of the nests described in the hemlock was 

 thrown upon my protection, having been by some means ejected from 

 his cradle. In this critical situation however he had been well fed or 

 rather gorged with berries, and was merely scratched by the fall he 

 had received. Fed on cherries and mulberries ho was soon well 

 fledged, while his mate in th nest was suffered to perish by the forget- 

 fulness of his natural protectors. Coeval with the growth of his 

 wing-feathers were already seen the remarkable red waxen append- 

 ages, showing that their appearance indicates no particular age or 

 sex ; many birds, in fact, being without these ornaments during their 

 whole lives. I soon found my interesting protege 1 impatient of the 

 cage, and extremely voracious, gorging himself to the very mouth 

 with the soft fruits on which he was often fed. The throat, in fact, 

 like a craw admits of distension, and the contents are only gradually 



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