74 BULLETIN 197, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



off in flight is a low rough scree, with more body than the sibilant 

 call of the Cedar Waxwing." 



Dr. Harrison F. Lewis (MS.) watched a flock, near Quebec, that 

 "seemed to be 'all talking at once', and the result was a continuous 

 and fairly loud noise. The ordinary note seemed to resemble that of 

 the cedar waxwing but was shriller and lighter in tone, resembling also 

 the loud sibilant note often uttered by the robin. Besides a continual 

 shower of these notes, there seemed to come from the flock an unceasing, 

 jumbled twitter, much like the twitter of a large flock of slate-colored 

 juncos, contentedly feeding." 



Field marks. — A Bohemian might easily be mistaken for a cedar 

 waxwing. It is a larger bird, but size is sometimes deceptive where 

 there is no direct comparison. The underparts of the cedar waxwing 

 are largely yellowish, but decidedly grayish in the Bohemian, and 

 the latter has a black chin and a conspicuous white bar across the 

 wing, and the under tail coverts are a rich brown. 



Enemies. — Frank L. Farley writes to me : "Pigeon hawks must take 

 a heavy toll of the Bohemian waxwings while they are gathering in 

 the Rockies and foothills to commence their wanderings to the south. 

 On several trips after big game into these regions, I have seen large 

 flocks of a hundred or more birds, sitting motionless and apparently 

 fearful, on the top branches of a solitary leafless tree, out in an open- 

 ing. If one looks about, he is almost certain to see a pigeon hawk 

 perched in a nearby tree top, patiently watching the waxwings. The 

 birds seem to know that they are safe, if they remain in the tree, but, 

 if one puts them to flight, the hawk is off in a flash and easily takes one 

 before the flock gets a hundred yards from the tree." 



Mr. Cameron (1908) says that, in very severe weather, when the 

 waxwings were somewhat stupified by the cold — 



they became the prey of ranch cats. A very fine male which our cat brought 

 to me on Feb. 13, 1899, was quite fat after eighteen days of a cold wave during 

 which 45° below zero was registered. I do not tliink that many Waxwings fall 

 victims to Prairie Falcons, as they betake themselves to thick cover when the 

 latter are about. On March G, 1904, my wife and I approached within two 

 yards of a flock of Waxwings, which refused to leave a low cedar when a 

 Rough-legged Hawk was sailing above. 



"Winter. — It is probably failure of the food supply, rather than cold 

 weather, that sends the Bohemians southward in winter. Mr. Cameron 

 (1908) reports them as abundant winter residents even during the 

 most severe winters, when the temperature goes down to 31° or 45° 

 below zero. Given food enough, they seem to be able to stand the 

 most intense cold. 



This species seems to be present regularly, in varying numbers, 

 but apparently every winter, in Montana and in the Rocky Mountain 

 region as far south as Colorado. It appears less regularly, and usually 



