J 74 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



(GnaphaUum), a little hairy-stemmed, hairy-leaved, plant with 

 three or four small thistle-like flowers, growing from two to 

 four inches high. ' These the Woodchats pulled out by the roots, 

 and wove together into a compact warm nest, which did not 

 differ very much in colour from the bark of the olive-trees. 

 Occasionally a twig or two was introduced ; but for the most 

 part the cudweed, with its flowers and its root, was foundation, 

 wall, and lining for the nest." 



Eggs. From four to six in number. They present the same 

 divergent colours as do the eggs of the Red-backed Shrike 

 some of the eggs have the ground-colour greenish-white, wit! 

 coarse spots and markings of greenish-brown and underlying 

 mottling and spots of pale violet-grey ; these markings are 

 sometimes distributed over the larger end of the egg, and have 

 a tendency to form a ring. In another type of egg the ground 

 colour is clay-brown with olive-brown mottlings and spots, am 

 very distinct underlying spots of violet-grey. In a third typ 

 the colour is creamy-buff, of a more or less rich tint, the over 

 lying spots being reddish-brown with very distinct under-lyini 

 spots and mottlings of grey : these grey spots are as distinc 

 as in the greenish-white type of egg, but the over-lying marking 

 are darker. Axis, 0-85-0-95 inch ; diam., 0-65-0-7. 



THE CHATTERERS. FAMILY AMPELID^E. 



These birds, familiarly known as Wax-wings, must not b 

 confounded with the American Chatterers, or Cotingida. Th 

 peculiar wax-like appendages to the quills and tail-feathers ar 

 the chief external characteristics of the family, and on tha 

 account the name of Wax-wings would have been the mor 

 suitable one ; but there are in America certain genera, such a 

 Phainoptila and Ptilogonys, which are apparently referable tc 

 the same family as Ampelis, but which do not possess the wax 

 like appendages to the wings and tail, and, therefore, the nam 

 of " Wax "-wing is inapplicable to them. The Ampelida hav 

 only nine primaries in the wing, the bill swollen with a roundec 

 nostril, and are also remarkable for a long silky crest 



