120 



VERTEBRATA. 



,;„.uisluMl bv H sin-ular fk-shy cylin-lriral anHinlago, often funnshcl ^v.th a few small feathers, 

 l? h" riso. from tlio btso of the bill. Us voice is peculiar, rcseniblnig the deep tolling ot a bell. 

 \ ' ' ,lin ' to WutertoM, it may be heard at a distance of nearly three miles during the heat of 

 th ^'v when most of the feathered inhabitants of those tropical forests are hushed in silence. 



THE -^V^^JS-WING. 



THE CHATTERERS. 

 The Ampelince or True Chatterers have the gape wide, the bill broad at the base, depressed 

 near the tip, and distinctly notched ; they are found in both hemispheres. 



Genns liOMBYClLLA : Bomhjcilla—AmpcUs of some authors.— Of this there arc several 

 species. The European Wax-Wing— Jase^<r of the French ; Oarrulo di Boemia of the Italians ; 

 Gemcine Seidenschwantz of the Germans; Silk-Tail of the English—^. Garrula, is known 

 throughout the northern parts of both continents. It is a very handsome bird, about eight inches 

 long, of a general grayish color, with a large patch on the throat and a band on the head of black. 

 The crest on the crown of the head and the lower tail-coverts are brownish-orange; the primary 

 wing-coverts are tipped with white ; the primary and secondary quill-fcathers are black, tipped 

 with yellow, as are also the quills of the tail ; and the tertiaries are brownish-purple, tipped with 

 white. Four of the secondaries, and from one to four of the tcrtials, according to the age of the 

 bird, are terminated by small horny expansions of the shaft of the feathers, resembling, both in 

 color and texture, red sealing-wax. Tiie name of Bohemian Chatterer, commonly applied to this 

 bird, appears to be peculiarly inappropriate, as it is by no means more abundant in Bohemia than 

 in other parts of Europe, and its actual home and breeding-place is probably within the arctic 

 circle. It is a winter visitor to France, England, &c. In Europe it feeds upon the berries of 

 the mountain ash, hawthorn, and ivy, which are all to be found abundantly during the winter 

 upon the plants producing them ; in the high northern latitudes of America, to which it is here 

 chietlv confined, though sometimes found as far south as Philadelphia, it eats the berries of the 

 juniper. It also occasionally feeds upon insects, which it captures on the wing in the same 

 manner as the fly-catchers. 



The American AVax-Wing, or Cedar-Bird, or Cherry-Bird, B. CaroUnensis, is a familiar bird 

 in all parts of the United States, migrating to the north in summer and the south in winter. 

 It closely resembles the preceding, though it is smaller. It is known in all North America, 

 from Canada to Mexico, and feeds upon different kinds of berries, especially those of the red 

 cedar and cherries, and also upon insects. It breeds in June, sometimes building in the cedars, 

 but more commonly in orchards. 1"he nest is composed of grass, and the eggs, which are three 

 or four in number, are of a dingy bluish-white color, variously spotted with black. When berries 

 are abundant, as in the autumn and the beginning of summer, the birds become very fat, and are 

 then in considerable esteem for the table. They fly in compact flocks of twenty to thirty; the 



