54 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



It was said to have been one of three which were seen flying to and 

 fro on the grounds there for several days. THOMAS F. DEWAR, 

 Arbroath. 



Waxwing-s in the Lothians. Although a few Waxwings 

 (Ampelis garrulus) visit us every second or third winter, the bird is 

 sufficiently rare and striking in appearance to continue to attract 

 attention and keep up our interest in the records of its occurrence. 

 A larger number than usual seem to have come to us this winter, 

 the date of arrival of the majority being towards the middle of 

 November. In the town of Haddington a flock of seven or eight 

 were seen, on i2th November, feeding on yewberries in the cemetery, 

 by the superintendent and others ; and on or about the same date 

 one came to the berries on a yew in front of Mr. Todrick's house in 

 Court Street its visits to this tree lasted, Mr. Todrick tells me, 

 nearly a fortnight. On 2yth October one was killed at North 

 Berwick while feeding along with another on haws; and on i3th 

 November two, one of which was caught with bird-lime, were observed 

 devouring the berries of a Cotoneaster growing on the front of a 

 cottage at Drem in the same neighbourhood. On the same day 

 (the 1 3th) a bird-catcher noticed two feeding on elderberries at 

 Musselburgh haugh, and by placing some limed twigs on the bush 

 he managed to capture one of them, a remarkably fine male. On 

 3oth November one was shot on a rose-bush it was feeding on the 

 hips above Cramond ferry, and another caught at Tranent. 

 Then on 4th December, one (a female) was killed by a cat in a 

 garden at Levenhall at the east end of Musselburgh links, and a 

 beautiful male was shot near Innenvick beyond Dunbar on the 

 1 6th. All of those captured have been examined by me, but my 

 efforts to meet with the birds at large have so far failed. The three 

 caught alive seem to be thriving very well in confinement, and are 

 wonderfully tame. I hear of others, besides the above, having been 

 seen in the Lothians, but I have not got the particulars. One was 

 also reported from Orkney, another from Arbroath, and four from 

 Comrie, and I have just seen a female shot at Galashiels on i yth 

 December. 



Since writing the above, I have had a long-standing desire 

 gratified I have seen a Waxwing at liberty. On 23rd December, 

 having read in the morning paper that two were seen in a garden 

 in North Berwick the previous day, I at once went down there, and, 

 after fully three hours' watching in the neighbourhood, had the 

 pleasure of seeing one of the birds quietly preening its feathers 

 within three or four yards of me on a young tree in front of a 

 cottage, where it had just been feeding on Cotoneaster berries. Its 

 flight, when it left, was direct and rapid, much like that of a starling. 

 On the same day one was seen feeding on dog-hips near Colinsburgh, 

 Fife. WILLIAM EVANS, Edinburgh. 



