I 



110 CEDAR-BIRD. 



what justice or propriety, a mere comparison of the two will deter- 

 mine. The Em^opean species is very nearly twice the cubic bulk 

 of ours; has the whole lower parts of an uniform dark vinous bay; 

 the tips of the wings streaked with lateral bars of yellow; the nos- 

 trils covered with bristles;^ the feathers on the chin loose and tuft- 

 ed; the wings black; and the markings of white and black on the 

 sides of the head different from the American, which is as follows : 

 - — Length seven inches, extent eleven inches ; head, neck, breast, 

 upper part of the back and wing-coverts, a dark fawn color; dark- 

 est on the back, and brightest on the front ; head ornamented with 

 a high pointed almost upright crest ; line from the nostril over the 

 eye to the hind head velvety black, bordered above with a fine 

 line of white, and another line of white passes from the lower man- 

 dible ; chin black, gradually brightening into fawn color, the fea- 

 thers there lying extremely close ; bill black, upper mandible nearly 

 triangular at the base, without bristles, short, rounding at the point, 

 where it is deeply notched ; the lower scolloped at the tip and turn- 

 ing up; tongue as in the rest of the genus, broad, thin, cartilagi- 

 nous, and lacerated at the end ; belly yellow ; vent white ; wings 

 deep slate, except the two secondaries next the body, whose exte- 

 rior vanes are of a fawn color, and interior ones white; forming 

 two whitish strips there, which are very conspicuous; rump and 

 tail coverts pale light blue, tail the same, gradually deepening into 

 black, and tipt for half an inch with rich yellow. Six or seven, and 

 sometimes the whole nine, secondary feathers of the wings, are or- 

 namented at the tips with small red oblong appendages, resembling 

 red sealing-wax; these appear to be a prolongation of the shafts, 

 and to be intended for preserving the ends, and consequently the 

 vanes, of the quills from being broken and worn away, by the al- 

 most continual fluttering of the bird among thick branches of the 

 cedar. The feathers of those birds which are without these appen- 

 dages are uniformly found ragged on the edges ; but smooth and 



Turton. 



