154 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



development iii all tlie Degluhitores." Mr. E. F. Tomes, 

 in a most interesting paper on "The internal struc- 

 ture of the Bearded Titmouse" (Ibis, 1860, p. 317), 

 fally coincides in the above views of the learned pro- 

 fessor, and supports them also by osteological evidences 

 from the dissection of specimens which I had the 

 pleasure of forwarding from this county, at the request 

 of Dr. Sclater. 



BOMBYCILLA GARRULUS, (Linn^us). 



WAXWING. 



Of all our occasional winter visitants there are none 

 so eccentric in their movements as the Waxwings. 

 Sometimes appearing during two or three successive 

 seasons in more or less numbers ; at other times entirely 

 absent from our shores for as long if not a longer period ; 

 in one winter noticed only as the rarest stragglers, in 

 another creating a perfect sensation by their numbers, 

 and though usually appearing in sharp winters, yet 

 often absent when most looked for, and present again 

 when least expected. These beautiful and erratic 

 wanderers are thus no less uncertain in their migratory 

 impulses than in the choice of breeding sites in those 

 northern regions where, of late years, ornithologists 

 have traced them to their homes. Sir Thomas Browne 

 does not appear to have noticed this species, and the 

 earliest record therefore of its appearance in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, is contained in the " Catalogue" of Messrs. 

 Sheppard and Whitear, who speak of it as an occasional 

 visitant, which " has not unfrequently made its appear- 

 ance in these counties, and generally from November to 

 March." They also allude to its abundance at Herring- 

 fleet, in 1810, and to a "prodigious flock" observed at 



