72 BULLETIN 197, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



food. Waxwings are often vigorously attacked by robins that try 

 to drive them from the berrj^-bearing bushes, where they are peace- 

 fully feeding, but the waxwings do not retaliate; the angry attacks 

 by the hostile robins only cause them to step quietly aside and await 

 their turn. Audubon (1842) published an interesting account, given 

 to him by Thomas McCulloch, which illustrates the devotion of one 

 of these birds to its wounded companion ; it returned again and again 

 to its fallen friend, uttering notes of alarm and warning, and flying 

 against it in its efforts to urge it to escape from danger, until it paid 

 with its life for its friendly solicitude. 



It is very tame and confiding in the presence of human beings, being 

 quite unsuspicious and easily approached, as illustrated by the follow- 

 ing observation by Thomas D. Burleigh (1930) : 



The birds on the University campus have gradually increased until now there 

 are fully eight hundred of them there; they feed on the ground or in the thickets 

 where the bushes are full of berries, and are remarkably tame, allowing anyone 

 to walk up within a foot of them ; two lit on me as I stood watching them, one 

 on my shoulder and one on the top of my head, the latter bird remaining there 

 for several minutes ; a few minutes later, I held out my hand full of berries and 

 one bird actually lit on my arm and standing on the sleeve of my mackinaw ate 

 the berries without paying the slightest attention to me. 



The Bohemian waxwing shows its sociability by its pronounced 

 flocking habits ; even on its breeding grounds it is often seen moving 

 about in flocks, and it seems to prefer to nest in communities. S. F. 

 Rathbun has contributed the following notes on flock behavior : 



"December 22, 1919. This morning we again heard these waxwings 

 and found them in the same locality where we had seen flocks on two 

 other occasions. The flock was a large one, a majority of the birds be- 

 ing perched in or near the top of a large maple tree ; all were headed 

 directl}'^ into the wind, which seems to be customary when any appreci- 

 able wind is blowing; individuals were constantly dropping down to 

 feed on the berries in some adjacent mountain-ash trees. As usual, 

 there was a constant movement in the flock, birds continually leaving 

 and returning to it; and, to judge from the sound, the greater number 

 were uttering their soft, rolling notes that are so pleasing to hear. 



"A striking and very noticeable feature of a flock is that, when dis- 

 turbed, nearly all the birds will take wing and circle around a number 

 of times until they come together in a close and compact body ; then it 

 appears as if at the same instant all were impelled by the same impulse 

 to alight, and the flock will sail up to the chosen spot on stiffly extended 

 wings, this action being uniform on the part of each individual ; and 

 during these various evolutions the soft, lisping notes of the birds are 

 always much in evidence. 



"In these flocks of waxwings other species will sometimes be found 

 in limited numbers, robins and cedar waxwings most commonly. It is 



