AMPELID.t. 



155 



THE WAXWING. 



Ampelis garrulus, Linnasus. 



For upwards of two centuries this beautiful bird has been known 

 to visit our islands at irregular intervals, and sometimes, as in the 

 winters of 1686, 1830-31, 1834-35, 1849-50, 1866-67, 1872-3, and 

 1892-93, in considerable numbers. As might be expected in the 

 case of an inhabitant of the Arctic regions, the visits of the Waxwing 

 have been more frequent to the northern and eastern portions of 

 Great Britain than the western side ; and although they have 

 reached Argyll and Skye, they have not extended to the Outer 

 Hebrides, while occurrences in the Orkneys and Shetlands have been 

 rare. In Ireland, also, they have been few and far between. In 

 England the Waxwing has been obtained in almost every county, 

 including the south and the extreme south-west ; and, on the spring 

 migration, in Norfolk up to the first week in May. Its visits depend 

 on the severity of the weather on the Continent, but it does not 

 follow that the same winter should be rigorous in the British Islands. 



The wanderings of the Waxwing are not known to extend in a 

 south-westerly direction as far as the Pyrenees or the Spanish 

 Peninsula ; but from Provence, in the south-east of France, they 



