336 CLASS AVES. 



the longest, and the lateral feathers are graduated ; they are 

 blue, tipt with white, and a black bar between that colour 

 and the blue. Inhabits China, and is frequently rendered 

 very tame and amusing. 



The Nutcracker.) though a single species, has been sepa- 

 rated by Gesner, generically, under the name caryocatactes^ a 

 separation which has been adopted by other ornithologists. 

 Linnaeus included it in his genus corvus, nor does it seem 

 to differ from the preceding subdivisions of that genus, the 

 jays and the pies, in any thing but the straightness of 

 the bill. 



The nutcracker, which is about the size of the jay, is 

 found principally in Germany, especially in the thick and 

 elevated forests of that country. Occasionally however they 

 visit France in flocks, when they are observed to be extremely 

 eager for food, and to fall easily into snares of all sorts. A 

 few stragglers have been met with in this country, though 

 rarely. They build in holes in trees, and lay five or six 

 pale yellow eggs, marked with black spots. In habits and 

 manners they are said to resemble the jay. 



The Corvus varians, changeable crow of Latham, which is 

 perhaps more peculiar for the velvet-like black feathers which 

 surround the base of the bill and the eye, than for the thick- 

 ness of the bill, seems to differ in those respects only from 

 the great genus corvus, and its subdivision of pies, jays, and 

 nutcrackers. It inhabits Java, but is not a familiar bird, 

 and is found for the most part in lands recently cleared for 

 cultivation. Of its nidification we know nothing. 



The Wattle-bird constitutes a genus, Glaucopis, with but 

 this single species, which, as to the bill and the velvety 

 feathers which surround its base, is allied to the changeable 

 crow. But, in addition to these characters, the tongue is sin- 

 gularly shaped, being indented into three or four angles, and 

 furnished with short bristles. At the base of the imder 



