i74 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



(Gnaphaliuni), a little hairy-stemmed, hairy-leaved, plant with 

 three or four small thistle-like flowers, growing from two to 

 four inches high. These the Woodchats pulled out by the roots, 

 and wove together into a compact warm nest, which did not 

 differ very much in colour from the bark of the olive-trees. 

 Occasionally a twig or two was introduced ; but for the most 

 part the cudweed, with its flowers and its root, was foundation, 

 wall, and lining for the nest." 



Eggs. From four to six in number. They present the same 

 divergent colours as do the eggs of the Red-backed Shrike ;. 

 some of the eggs have the ground-colour greenish-white, with 

 coarse spots and markings of greenish-brown and underlying 

 mottling and spots of pale violet-grey ; these markings are 

 sometimes distributed over the larger end of the egg, and have 

 a tendency to form a ring. In another type of egg the ground- 

 colour is clay-brown with olive-brown mottlings and spots, and 

 very distinct underlying spots of violet-grey. In a third type 

 the colour is creamy-buff, of a more or less rich tint, the over- 

 lying spots being reddish-brown with very distinct under-lying 

 spots and mottlings of grey : these grey spots are as distinct 

 as in the greenish-white type of egg, but the over-lying markings 

 are darker. Axis, o - 85-o'95 inch ; diam., 0*65-07. 



THE CHATTERERS. FAMILY AMPELID^E. 



These birds, familiarly known as Wax-wings, must not be 

 confounded with the American Chatterers, or Cotingidce. The 

 peculiar wax-like appendages to the quills and tail-feathers are 

 the chief external characteristics of the family, and on that 

 account the name of Wax-wings would have been the more 

 suitable one ; but there are in America certain genera, such as 

 Phainoptila and Ptilogonys, which are apparently referable to 

 the same family as Ampelis^ but which do not possess the wax- 

 like appendages to the wings and tail, and, therefore, the name 

 of " Wax "-wing is inapplicable to them. The Ampelidce hav ; 

 only nine primaries in the wing, the bill swollen with a rounded 

 nostril, and are also remarkable for a long silky crest. 



