THE BOHEMIAN, OR WAXEN CHATTERER. 333 



136. THE BOHEMIAN, OR WAXEN CHATTERER. 



Ampelis Garrulus, LIN. Jaseur de BohSrne, BUF. Der Gemeine 

 Seidenschwanz, BECH. 



Description. The Bohemian Chatterer is eight inches in 

 length, and almost as large as the Eedwing Thrush. The beak is 

 short, black, straight, arched above, and broad at the root, so that 

 the opening of the mouth is large. The iris is reddish brown; 

 the feet black, and nearly one inch in height. The whole 

 plumage of the bird is soft and silky, and the feathers on the 

 top of the head are elongated, so as to form a crest. The head 

 and upper part of the body are reddish ash colour, inclining to 

 grey on the rump ; and a black stripe passes from the nostrils 

 over each eye to the back of the head. The chin is black ; 

 the forehead, as well as the vent, chestnut-brown. The breast 

 and belly are a light purple brown ; the smaller wing coverts 

 are brown, the largest and most distant from the body black, 

 tipped with white, which produces a white stripe on the 

 wings. The pen-feathers are black; the third and fourth 

 tipped with white, the five following with yellow, on the 

 outer plume. Besides this, in many of their feathers the 

 shafts end in a smooth, horny, oval tip of the colour of red 

 sealing-wax. Of these the female has never more than five ; 

 the male sometimes as many as nine on each side. The tail is 

 black, tipped with sulphur colour ; and in very old males is 

 sometimes provided with tips like those on the wings. 



In the female, the black spot on the throat, and the sulphur- 

 coloured tip of the tail, are smaller ; and the wings are tipped 

 with yellowish white. 



Habitat. These birds breed within the Arctic Circle, and 

 visit Germany only in the winter, arriving in November, and 

 departing in the beginning of April. In mild winters they do 

 not come as far south as Thuringia ; in severe ones, they seek 

 a still warmer climate. In average seasons they sometimes 

 remain with us throughout the year, and may then be seen in 

 other parts of Germany also, as in Saxony, the Hartz Mountains, 

 and Bohemia. 



In confinement it is usually kept in a corner of the room, 

 separated by a grating, which, however, must not be near the 

 fire. A very slight degree of heat is sufficient to make it open 

 its beak, and begin to gasp for air, a fact which proves that 

 its summer abode must be in a very cold climate. If, for 



