CROW TRIBE— SHRIKES, FLYCATCHERS, AAD WAXWING 29 



where they dry their meat, although they welcome them as a rule on account of 

 their catching the gadflies which torment the reindeer. Bird-lovers appreciate 

 this species for the reason that it is easily tamed, and amusing in its ways. 

 About 12 inches in length, in colour it is principally light grey, with the crown 

 and nape blackish brown, the upper tail-coverts rusty red, the under-parts rufous, 

 and the tail-feathers grey, the four feathers on each side of the tail being red 

 with grey tips. Of other members of the group, the jackdaw is found as far east 

 as the Lena, but is represented in north-eastern Asia and Japan by the white- 

 collared Pallas's daw (Gorvus dauricus). The ordinary European rook appears in 

 Siberia, and along with it the closely allied C. pastinator, in which the area at the 

 base of the beak does not become bare in adult life. 



The habitats of the two commonest crows are separated in Asia in the sane- 

 way as in Europe, the Yenesei forming the boundary of that of the Siberian hooded 

 crow (G. sharpei) on the east, and of the Siberian carrion crow ( G. orientalis) 

 on the west. On the Lena River and still farther east only carrion crows are to 

 be seen, and these range into Japan. The raven is found all through Siberia. 

 siirikes. Fly- Among the shrike tribe, the red-backed species is common in 



catchers, and western Siberia, while the great grey shrike ranges as far east as the 

 waxwing. L ona >phe flycatchers are represented by the red-breasted species, 

 which is found right across the continent, and by the spotted flycatcher, whose area 

 is bounded on the east by the Altai Mountains. 



The waxwing (Anrpelis garrulus) is an irregular visitor to the west and south 

 of Europe, but a breeding-bird in the north of Europe and Asia, as well as in 

 Alaska. In the forests of its northern home this splendid bird feeds during 

 summer exclusively on the myriads of gnats which fill the air ; but later on eats 

 the berries in which the region abounds. When the trees and shrubs are covered 

 with snow, the waxwing migrates to the forests of southern Sweden, Russia, 

 Poland, and Lithuania, which it visits regularly every year on account of their 

 abundance of berries. In very hard winters it has to go still farther afield, ami 

 extends its wanderings to the British Isles, northern Italy, and Turkey, which 

 form the limits of its southern range. In northern Germany it appears as a rule 

 every two or three years, and sometimes regularly every year, but to Britain ami 

 France its visits are not so frequent, though there as elsewhere it arrives in flocks 

 and never as a straggler. Waxwings swallow berries whole, drink very seldom, 

 and catch gnats in the air as if they were flycatchers. They are generally seen in 

 parties sitting quietly together on one tree, on the ends of the branches, where 

 they can be recognised from afar. Very trustful of man, they nest in colonies, on 

 either firs or birches, each nest being on a branch near the stem. The nest is 

 built of fir-twigs, moss, and black hair-lichen, lined with hair and feathers. The 

 waxwing is 7| inches in length. In colour it is purplish red below and greyish 

 brown above, with a chestnut crest ; the tail ends in a broad yellow band, and the 

 secondaries have their shafts prolonged into the scarlet wax-like points from which 

 the bird derives its name. 



The swallows are represented in Siberia by the same species as 



S Weil lows etc 



in Europe, the house-martin ranging as far east as Tashkent, while 

 the chimney swallow reaches the valley of the Yenesei, eastwards of which its 



