Aug. 1, 1SGS.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENC E -GOSSIP. 



1S1 



like to ascertain if our English viper would shrink 

 from an object smelling strongly of this root. My 

 impression is that red vipers arc not a distinct 

 variety, but arc young ones retaining this colour 

 until changing their skins in a succeeding spring. I 

 have not seen any young vipers that were not red. 

 Trebah, near Falmouth. C. E. 



THE WAX WING. 



{Ampelis garrulus.) 



THE genus Ampelis is represented by three 

 species, viz., Ampelis garrulus, of Europe and 

 North America ; Ampelis cedrorum, peculiar to the 



late Mr. John Wolley, who has been the discoverer 

 of so many of the breeding-places of our British 

 birds. No essay on the present species would be 

 complete without a reference to Professor Newton's 

 paper on this subject,* and although it is too long 

 to admit of its entire insertion, I shall make no 

 apology for the following extracts. 



The following is from one of Mr. Wolley's 

 letters, dated " Muoniovara, 14th Sept., 1S56," and 

 is thus given by the above-named author in the 

 course of his essay, and will always be commemorated 

 as the first authentic account of the Waxwing's 

 nest : — 



" I have still to tell you of Ludwig's expedition 



wmWr 



Eig. 19G. The Waxwing. 



latter continent ; and Ampelis phenicopterus, of 

 Japan. Of these the first two only possess those 

 curious appendages which have gained for them the 

 familiar appellation by which they are so universally 

 known. 



• The species which we are about to consider is a 

 winter visitant to this country, and hardly a year 

 passes without a catalogue of its slaughter appear- 

 ing in print. A British-killed specimen of the Wax- 

 wing is always regarded with great veneration by 

 the collector, although, from the frequency of its 

 occurrence of late years, it is not nearly so rare, and 

 is now to be met with in most ornithological collec- 

 tions. But its egg and its mode of nidification were 

 unknown until they were brought to light by the 



with Piko Heiki to Sardio, on the Kittila River. It 

 was early in June, and he had to wade over Pallas- 

 tunturi up to his middle in snow. Arrived at 

 Sardio, he found the lads there all at home, deep in 

 dirt and laziness. He soon extracted from them 

 the information that a pair of birds had been seen 

 about which they took to be Tuka rastas, and Lud- 

 wig himself had seen such a bird, and this bird's 

 egg was entered in my list. . . . Ludwig im- 

 mediately started off into the forest, and sure enough 

 he saw a bird which he thought was Sidens-vans, 

 but he was not quite sure, for the end of its tail 

 looked white in the sun, instead of yellow as in your 



* Ibis, 1861, p. 92. 



