76 THE WAX WING 



WOODCHAT SHRIKE 



LANIUS POMERANUS 



Forehead and cheeks black ; nape bright rust colour ; back and wings varie- 

 gated with black, white, and reddish brown ; under parts white ; outer 

 tail feathers white, with a square black spot at the base on the inner web, 

 the two next with the black spot larger, and on both webs, the two middle 

 ones wholly black, the rest black tipped with white ; tail slightly rounded ; 

 second primary equal in length to the fifth. Female — all her colours 

 dingy ; breast marked transversely with fine brown lines. Length, seven 

 and a half inches. Eggs bluish white, spotted at the larger end with 

 brown and ash-grey. 



The habits of this bird, which is a very rare visitant to the British 

 Isles, differ in no material respect from those of the foregoing 

 species. On the Continent it is more frequent in the south than 

 the north, where it frequents trees rather than bushes, and gener- 

 ally places its nest, which it constructs of twigs, moss, and white 

 lichen, in the forked branch of an oak. Like the rest of the family 

 it is migratory, corning and departing at the same time as the other 

 species. 



FAMILY AMPELIDiE 

 THE WAXWING 



AMPELIS GARRULUS 



Feathers of the head elongated, forming a crest ; upper plumage purplish 

 red ; lower the same, but of a lighter tint ; throat and lore black ; greater 

 wing-coverts black, tipped with white ; primaries black, with a yellow 

 or white angular spot near the extremity, six or eight of the secondaries 

 and tertiaries having the shaft prolonged and terminating in a substance 

 resembling red sealing-wax ; tail black, tipped with yellow. Length 

 eight inches. Eggs pale blue, with a few streaks of brown and lilac. 



The Waxwing is an elegant bird, of about the size of a Thrush. 

 It visits this country, and in fact every other European country 

 where it is known at all, at irregular intervals, generally in flocks, 

 which vary in number from eight or ten to some scores. Thus it 

 is everywhere a stranger ; and little was known till recently of its 

 nesting habits. It is perhaps on account of this ignorance of its 

 natural history, that it has borne a variety of names which are as 

 inappropriate as possible. Temminck describes it under the name 

 Bombycivora, or devourer of Bombyx, a large moth, a name quite 

 unfit for a bird which lives exclusively on fruits and berries. This 

 was softened into Bombycilla, which means, I presume, a little 

 Bombyx, though the bird in question is far larger than any known 

 moth. Its French name Jaseur, equivalent to the English one, 

 Chatterer, is quite as inappropriate, as it is singularly silent. In 

 default of all certain information, then, I venture to surmise that, 

 coming in parties no one knows whence, and going no one knows 



