268 
BOMBYCILLA CABOLINENSIS. 
consillerinnf this bird as a variety of the European 
chatterer, (a. garrulus,') with what justice or propriety a 
mere comparison of the two will determine : The Euro- 
pean species is very nearly twice the cubic bulk of ours ; 
has the whole lower parts of aii uniform dark vinous 
bay; the tips of the win>rs streaked u ith lateral bars of 
yellow ; the nostrils, covered with bristles ;* the feathers 
on the chin, loose and tufted ; the win;,rs, black ; and , 
the raarkinirs 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 colour; darkest on the back, and brightest 
on the front ; head, ornamented with a high pointed, I 
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 I 
passes from the tower mandible; chin, black, gradually | 
brightening into fan n colour, the feathers there lying I 
extremely close ; bill, black ; upper mandible, nearly ' 
triangular at the base, ivithont bristles, short, rounding 
at the point, ndiere it is deeply notched ; the lower 
scolloped at the tij), and turning up ; tongue, as in the 
rest of the genus, broad, thin, cartilaginous, and lacerated 
at the end; belly, yellow; vent, white; wings, deep 
slate, except the ttvo secondaries next the body, w'hose 
exterior vanes are of a fawn colour, and interior ones, 
white ; forming two tvhitish strips there, which are 
very conspicuous ; rumi) and tail-coverts, pale light 
blue ; tail, the same, gradually deepening into black, and 
tipt for half an inch with rich yellon'. Six or seven, 
and sometimes the whole nine, secondary feathers of 
the wings, are ornamented at the tips with small red 
oblong appendages, resembling red sealing-wax ; these ^ 
appear to he 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 
* Turton. 
