The length of this bird is eight inches, one and a quarter of which belong to the tail. The beak is three quarters of an inch long, black, short, straight, arched above, and large at the base, forming a large opening when the mandibles are separated; the iris is brown; the shanks nearly an inch high, and black. The whole body is covered with soft silky feathers; those at the top of the head are long, and rise in a crest; the head and the rest of the upper part of the body are of a reddish ash-colour, changing to gray at the rump; the middle coverts are dark ash gray, with the ends white also, besides which, the shaft of many has a horny tip, shining and red, like a little oval bit of sealing-wax. The female has at most but five of these waxen tips to each wing, while the male has from five to nine; the tail is black, terminated with primrose yellow; very old males have also upon it narrow red wax tips. In the female, the black spot on the throat is smaller; the yellow at the end of the tail is also narrower and paler; the tips of the wings are of a yellowish white; lastly, the horny appendages are small, and often they do not appear at all. HABITATION.--When wild it does not build in Germany, but within the Arctic circle; it is found in Thuringia only in the winter, and if the season is mild in very small numbers, the greater portion remaining in the north; but in severe cold it advances farther south. In moderate seasons it is found in great flights in the skirts of the forests throughout the greater part of Germany and Bohemia. In confinement, it is generally kept in a grated corner, where it may run about freely with the other birds which are also placed there, taking care to keep it at a distance from the stove, the heat of which is so distressing that it opens its beak and breathes with difficulty; this proves that a warm climate is not congenial to the bird. If kept in a cage, it requires one as large as the thrush; and, as it is a very dirty bird, the bottom must be regularly covered with a sufficient quantity of sand. FOOD.--When wild we see it in the spring eating, like thrushes, all sorts of flies and other insects; in autumn and winter different kinds of berries; and, in times of need, the buds and sprouts of the beech, maple, and various fruit trees. In confinement the two universal pastes appear delicacies to it; and it is even satisfied with bran steeped in water. It swallows every thing voraciously, and refuses nothing eatable, such as potatoes, cabbage, salad, fruits of all sorts, and especially white bread. It likes to bathe, or rather to sprinkle itself with water, for it does not wet itself so much as other birds.