of the Breeding of the Waxwing. 105 



During the past summer it seems to have been rather more 

 numerous. I am told of fifty-two eggs having been collected for 

 me by the agents of my late friend, whom I keep in my own 

 employment, but these specimens have not hitherto arrived. 

 Early in the present year, Mons, C. F. Dubois described and 

 figured the egg of the Waxwing in the ' Revue et Magasin de 

 Zoologie *,' but without stating whether his example had been 

 obtained from Mr. Wolley, or derived through another source. 

 M. Dubois states that its egg " ressemble beaucoup a celui du 

 Coccothraustes vulgaris et du Lanius ruficeps ; il peut facilement 

 etre confondu avec les ceufs de ces derniers.^' In this latter 

 assertion I do not agree with him. Out of the several hundred 

 specimens which form the series I possess, there is not one, I 

 think, which could be taken for that of either the Hawfinch or 

 the Woodchat Shrike, though I freely admit there is a likeness 

 to the eggs of bothf. 



Thus much have I to record of the particulars of this dis- 

 covery, which, I think, had been looked forward to by collectors 

 all over the world as by far the most interesting that could be 

 made. It is indeed somewhat surprising that the nidification of 

 a Passerine bird generally known throughout the greater part 

 of three quarters of the globe, and which had been sought 

 for even in its most inhospitable regions once and again by the 

 most venturesome of voyagers, should so long have remained 

 enveloped in mystery. But I also think that few of his brethren 

 in science will grudge the original finder the honour he merits ; 

 and writing these words as I do on the first anniversary of the 

 day which saw his removal from amongst us, I do not hesitate to 

 declare my belief that no one of the many earnest fellow-workers 

 with whom it is my privilege to be associated better deserved a 



* Revue et Magasin de Zoologie, Fevrier 1860, p. 64. pi. 2. fig. 4 (mis- 

 called on plate " Bombycilla cajrulea "). 



t Since the above was in type, I have seen No. 1, for 1860, of the 

 ' Bulletin de la Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou,' which 

 contains an interesting notice by Prof. Alex. v. Nordmann of the Birds 

 of Finland, as observed by his son Arthur. It is therein mentioned 

 (page 21) that the Helsingfors Museum contains five nests, with eggs, of 

 the Waxwing, and that " Studiosus Malmgren " had brought its young 

 from Kajana. 



