378 THE PIED FLYCATCHER AND THE WAXEN CHATTERER. 



and both the chin and breast are marked with dark brown longitudinal 



streaks. 



The other species of British Flycatchers is much more rare than 

 the bird just described, and may easily be distinguished from it by the 

 peculiarity of plumage from which it derives its popular title. The 

 Pied Flycatcher has been observed in most parts of England, but 

 seems to be of very rare occurrence, except in the counties of Cumber- 

 land and Westmoreland, where it is found in the vicinity of the lakes. 

 The coloring of this bird is as follows: In the adult male the top of 

 the head, back of the neck, back, and wings are dark blackish brown, 

 with the exception of a white patch upon the forehead, and a broad 

 stripe of white on the tertiary and greater wing-coverts. The tail is 

 black, except some bold white marks on some of the outer feathers, 

 and the whole of the under surface is pure white. The female is of a 

 delicate brown on the upper parts of the body, and those portions 

 which in the male are pure white are in the female of a dull whitish 

 gray. In dimensions the bird is not equal to the Spotted Flycatcher, 

 barely exceeding five inches in total length. 



A small but interesting group of birds has been designated by the 

 name of Ampelinse, or Chatterers, in allusion to the loquacity for 

 which some of the species are remarkable. They all have a wide 

 mouth, opening nearly as far as the eyes, but without the bristly ap- 

 pendages which so often accompany a large extent of gape. 



One well-known species, the Waxen 

 Chatterer, is a tolerably frequent 

 visitor of England, though it cannot 

 be reckoned among the common Brit- 

 ish birds. It is also known by the 

 name of the Bohemian Chatterer, 

 the latter name being singularly in- 

 ^v ^iBfe^^^ appropriate, as the bird is quite as 



^^^^m^M^^'^ ^'^^'^ ^^ Bohemia as in England. 



It is a very gregarious bird, assera- 

 i)ling in very large flocks, and con- 

 gregating so closely too^ether that great 

 numbers have been killed at a single 

 discharge of a gun. 



The lonjr, flat, scarlet appendages to 



:>-M: 



Thr Bohemian Waxwinq or 

 Waxen Chatterer {Ampelis 

 garrula). 



the wings are usuallv confined to the 



secondaries and tertiaries, at whose ex- 

 tremities they dangle as if they had 

 been formed separately and fastened to the feathers as an after- thought. 

 Indeed they so precisely resemble red sealing-wax that anv one on see- 

 ing the bird for the first time would probably suppose that a trick had 



