BOHEMIAN WAXWING 63 



browns, clothes his shapely form in a most pleasing combination of 

 colors; and the band of white across the wings, the yellow-tipped tail, 

 the chestnut under tail coverts, the black chin, and the red wax tips 

 rather accent than spoil the harmony of the whole ; and, above all, the 

 jaunty crest gives the final touch of aristocracy. He is a gentleman in 

 appearance and a courteous gentleman in behavior, as all who have 

 seen him in association with his fellows, or with other species, will 

 attest. 



To most of us, these Bohemians are birds of mystery; we never 

 know when or where we may see these roving bands of gypsies. They 

 come and they go, we know not whence or whither, in the never-ending 

 search for a bounteous food supply on which to gorge themselves. On 

 infrequent occasions, far too infrequent in New England, from the 

 vast timbered wilderness of northern Canada small groups, or immense 

 flocks, of these fascinating and erratic wanderers swoop down upon 

 us in winter in the Northern States, and more regularly in the Rocky 

 Moimtain regions. According to Dr. Cones (1874), "Prof. Baird 

 mentions that Mr. Drexler saw 'millions' on Powder River, in flocks 

 'rivalling in extent those of the Wild Pigeon.' " Whence come these 

 vast hordes ? It is only within comparatively recent years that a few 

 small breeding colonies have been discovered in different parts of 

 northern Canada. But the total of all these colonies will not begin 

 to account for the enormous numbers of these waxwings that some- 

 times flock into the States in winter. There must be many more of 

 these, or larger, colonies scattered through the broad expanse of 

 coniferous forests, dotted with muskegs, that extend from Hudson Bay 

 almost to the Pacific slope, most of which region still remains un- 

 explored. A 30-mile trip that I made into the wilderness north of 

 Prince Albert gave me a glimpse of what this countiy must be like. 

 Perhaps the opening of the Alcan Highwa}^ may throw some light on 

 the subject. 



Sir John Richardson (Swainson and Richardson, 1831) writes: 



This elegant bird has only lately been detected in America, having been dis- 

 covered, in the spring of 1826, near the soiirces of the Athabasca, or Elk river, 

 by Mr. Drummontl, and by myself the same season at Great Bear Lake, in lati- 

 tude 65°. * * * It appears in flocks at Great Bear Lake about the 24th of 

 May, when the spring thaw has exposed the berries of the alpine arbutus, marsh 

 vaccinium, &c., that have been frozen and covered during the winter. It stays 

 only for a few days, and none of the Indians of that quarter with whom I con- 

 versed had seen its nests, * * * i observed a large flock, consisting of at 

 least three or four hundred individuals, on the banks of the Saskatchewan, at 

 Carlton House, early in May, 1827. They alighted in a grove of poplars, settling 

 all in one or two trees, and making a loud twittering noise. They stayed only 

 about an hour in the morning, and were too shy to allow me to approach within 

 gunshot. 



This species is circumpolar in its distribution, and our bird was, for 

 a long time, supposed to be identical with the European bird, but it has 



