35S



Mr. Reginald Phillipps.



notwithstanding they at times invade peculiar districts in vast

numbers, so remarkable was their appearance in former times

considered, that they have alarmed whole regions, and been

looked upon as the precursors of war, pestilence and other public

calamities.”


And even in the Rev. J. G. Wood’s “Birds” we find the

following :—


“ Although the migratory habits of this bird are well

known, and many of the localities which it frequents have been

recorded by various writers, no one seems to have any certain

information as to its true home, or the country wherein it breeds,

although it is so numerous a species in its own locality that its

hiding places could hardly have escaped notice had they occurred

within the ordinary limits of scientific observation.”


And Morris boldly tells us :—“These birds are believed to

breed within the limits of the Arctic circle—in holes among

rocks, or in deep forests.” Moreover, having the courage of his

convictions, he gives us a figure of the egg in anticipation of its

discovery—but he would have been wiser in his generation if he

had left that alone.


An illustrated account of the finding of the first Wax¬

wing’s nest, in Rapland, in 1S56, was given by Professor Newton

in The Ibis for 1S61 (pp. 92-106, pi. IV.). I do not possess this

volume, but in Cassell’s Natural History (Vol. IV. page 86) parts

of the account are supplied, and may well (in part) be repeated

here.


The Editor commences with,—“ It is difficult, at a distance

of many years, to imagine the excitement which existed in

former days amongst zoologists concerning the nest of the

Waxwing ; and the first authentic record that was published of

the breeding of this bird was an account of the researches of the

late Mr. John Wolley, to whose indefatigable zeal the world is

indebted for positive information of the nidification of a great

number of the rarer European birds.” Professor Newton tells

the story of Mr. Wolley’s success in The Ibis, which, as quoted,

runs as follows: —


“ It is unnecessary to repeat here the fabulous accounts



