268 
BOMBYCILLA CAROLINENSIS, 
considering* 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 hulk 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 nostrils, covered with bristles ; * the feathers 
on the chin, loose and tufted ; 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 colour ; darkest 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 mandible ; chin, black, gradually 
brightening into fawn colour, the feathers 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 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 two secondaries next the body, whose 
exterior vanes are of a fawn colour, 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 ornamented at the tips with smMl 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 
* Turtoru 
