188 THE BOHEMIAN CHATTERER. 



purpose limed twigs are put in places cleared from snow, and beside 

 swampy ditches, with some earth-worms for a snare, into which they fall 

 as easily as chickens. 



ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES. The starling becomes wonderfully familiar 

 in the house ; as docile and cunning as a dog, he is always gay, wakeful, 

 soon knows all the inhabitants of the house, remarks their motions and 

 air, and adapts himself to their humours. In his solemn tottering step, 

 he appears to go stupidly forward ; but nothing escapes his eye. He 

 learns to pronounce words without having his tongue cut, which proves 

 the uselessness of this cruel operation. He repeats correctly the airs 

 which are taught him, as does also the female, imitates the cries of men 

 and animals, and the songs of all the birds in the room with him. It 

 must be owned that his acquirements are very uncertain : he forgets as 

 fast as he learns, or he mixes up the old and new in utter confusion ; 

 therefore, if it is wished to teach him an air, or to pronounce some words 

 clearly and distinctly, it is absolutely necessary to separate him from other 

 birds and animals, in a room where he can hearnothing. Not only are 

 the young susceptible of these instructions, the oldest even show the 

 most astonishing docility. 



THE BOHEMIAN CHATTERER. 



Ampelis garrulus , LINNAEUS ; Le Jaseur de Boheme, BUFFON ; Der gemetne 

 Seidenschwanz, BECHSTEIN. 



THE length of this bird is eight inches, one and a quarter of 

 which belong to the tail. The beak is three quarters of an 

 inch long, black, short, straight, arched above, and large at 

 the base, forming a large opening when the mandibles are 

 separated ; the iris is brown ; the shanks nearly an inch high, 

 and black. The whole body is covered with soft silky feathers ; 

 those at the top of the head are long, and rise in a crest ; the 

 head and the rest of the upper part of the body are of a reddish 

 ash-colour, changing to gray at the rump ; the middle coverts 

 are dark ash gray, with the ends white also, besides which, the 

 shaft of many has a horny tip, shining and red, like a little 

 oval bit of sealing-wax. The female has at most but five of 

 these waxen tips to each wing, while the male has from five to 

 nine ; the tail is black, terminated with primrose yellow ; very 

 old males have also upon it narrow red wax tips. 



In the female, the black spot on the throat is smaller ; the 

 yellow at the end of the tail is also narrower and paler ; the 



