Perching Birds. 
5 1 
The Wax-wing. 
The Wax-wing ( Ampelis 
garrulus). The plumage of 
this bird is singularly delicate 
in tint, being of a drab-brown 
colour above, becoming grey 
towards the rump and upper 
tail-coverts ; the quills are 
black, with white tips and 
some yellow near the end of 
the outer web. There is a 
very full crest on the head, of 
the same colour as the back ; 
the throat is black and the 
under tail-coverts chestnut, 
contrasting with the greyish-drab colour of the under surface. 
The Wax-wing visits us nearly every winter, and sometimes invades Great 
Britain in large numbers. It breeds in the high north of Europe and America, and 
wanders south in winter, when it has been found in most countries of Europe. Its 
food in summer time consists of insects, but in winter it feeds on various kinds of 
berries, and large numbers of these birds are shot for the market in Russia. The 
nest is a large but well-built structure, made of twigs and moss with a lining of 
feathers. The eggs are from five to seven in number, of a lilac-grey colour with 
spots of black or blackish-brown. 
This is one of the representative families of birds of the Old 
THE WARBLERS. World, w here it is represented by a number of species, mostly 
migratory, but some stationary. The Warblers differ from the 
Thrushes in having the young plain-coloured like the old birds, 
and not spotted as in the 
Turdidce. The latter, like- 
wise, go through but a single 
moult, whereas the Warblers 
moult twice in the year, once 
in autumn before migration, 
and again in the spring 
before they return to their 
breeding-haunts. 
The Barred Warbler 
(Sylvia nisoria). A rare 
and accidental visitor, of 
which some nine specimens 
have been recorded, eight The Barred Warbler. 
Family 
SYLVIIDM. 
