BOHEMIAN WAXWING 69 



cinnamon; and Dwight's (1900) description is substantially the same. 

 The latter says that the first winter plumage is acquired by a partial 

 postjuvenal molt, "which involves the body plumage and wing coverts, 

 but not the remiges nor rectrices." He describes it as "everywhere 

 rich drab, grayer below and on rump, fawn-color about the head. A 

 large black chin patch, the black extending to lores and forehead and 

 bordered everywhere by rich walnut-brown." 



There seems to be no prenuptial molt in the Bohemian waxwing. 

 One-year-old birds and adults have a complete postnuptial molt, 

 either very late in summer (last of August) or in fall ; E. S. Cameron 

 (1908) says this occurs in October; and Witherby's Handbook (1919) 

 says October to November. Dwight (1900) says that young birds 

 become indistinguishable from adults after their first postnuptial 

 molt, adults being somewhat grayer than first-winter birds, with more 

 extensive white markings in the wings and brighter yellow tail band 

 and primary tips. 



Except for the smaller and duller black throat, there seem to be no 

 constant sexual differences in plumage, but there is much individual 

 variation in both sexes. The coloration of the female is said to be 

 duller than that of the male, but the most brightly colored bird in the 

 series examined by Mr. Swarth (1922) is a female. "In size (but 

 not in number) of wax wing tips, in 'return margins' of primaries, 

 in yellow on primaries, and in size of white spots on secondaries, it is 

 superior to any of the males. In this bird the Avax secondary tips 

 are 7 mm. in length, a size attained by only one or two males." The 

 female parent of the brood of young is a highly plumaged bird. "It 

 has six secondaries of one wing, five of the other, with wax tips, the 

 primary margins are bright yellow, the tail is broadly tipped with 

 yellow, and there is a faint suggestion of red in one or two of the tail 

 feathers." 



The presence of wax tips, or their number, did not seem to be de- 

 pendent on age, sex, or season; they were almost evenly divided 

 between the sexes; out of 45 specimens examined, just 1 (a female) 

 had no trace of a wax tip ; in a series of 22 males, 2 had 3 tips, 8 had 6, 

 and 1 had 7 tips, the others being intermediate in this respect; in a 

 series of 16 females, 1 had no tips, 1 had traces of 2, 2 had 3 tips, 7 

 had 6, and 1 had 7 tips, the others being intermediate. 



Food. — On its northern breeding grounds, in summer, the Bohemian 

 waxwing is largely insectivorous, though even there its presence seems 

 to be governed to some extent by the available supply of berries. It 

 has sometimes been referred to as an expert flycatcher ; it must be very 

 smart at this, for it has been known to capture such swift and strong 

 fliers as dragonflies. Mr. Swarth (1922) writes: 



Waxwings were seeu feeding on insects and also on berries and other vege- 

 table matter. About Telegraph Creek, the flrst week in June, they were usually 



