WAX WING. 159 



ahies and P. sylvestris), chiefly, I think, the former. 

 The usual complement of eggs is certainly five, but six 

 not uncommonly, and seven and four occasionally were 

 found. The second week in June seems to be the 

 general time for the birds to have eggs ; but there 

 are some which must have been laid in the last days 

 of May, and others (perhaps second broods) a month 

 later." As some proof of the interest attaching to this 

 great oological fact, and the desire of collectors to secure 

 specimens for their cabinets, I may add that on the 

 sale of a portion of Mr. Wolley's duplicates, in London, 

 by Mr. J. C. Stevens (May 30th and 31st, 1860), nine 

 waxwings' eggs averaged £3 3s. each. As a cage bird, 

 from its handsome form and gentle though sprightly 

 nature, the waxwing is a particularly engaging pet, 

 but somewhat difficult to keep in a healthy condition 

 from its voracious and almost omnivorous appetite. In 

 November, 1859, I purchased a pair from Jamrach, of 

 London, which were moulting at the time, and were in 

 anything but a promising state. With careful treat- 

 ment, however, both as to cleanliness and diet, the male 

 assumed his perfect plumage by the following January, 

 and was then as handsome as any wild specimen I ever 

 saw. The female, however, remained sickly, being too 

 weak apparently to throw off her old feathers, and, 

 though feeding heartily to the last, died a perfect 

 skeleton on the 1st of March. I found bread and egg, 

 with a little hemp seed, the best diet, with berries 

 such as privet and ivy occasionally ; and latterly I 

 obtained some of the preserved cranberries, which at 

 that time were much sold by the grocers. They also 

 ate a good deal of old dried mortar, and swallowed a 

 quantity of small stones, having, as I afterwards found, 

 a true and very firm gizzard. Their note is a clear 

 silvery whistle, more subdued in tone than might have 

 been imagined from a bii'd of its size, and this when 



