AMPELID.-E. 



147 



THE WAX WING. 



Ampelis gakrulus, Linnaeus. 



For upwards of two centuries this beautiful bird has been known 

 to visit our islands at irregular intervals, and sometimes, as in the 

 winters of 1686, 1830-31, 1834-35,1849-50, 1866-67, and 1872-3, 

 in considerable numbers. As might be expected in the case of an 

 inhabitant of the Arctic regions, the visits of the Waxwing have been 

 more frequent in the northern and eastern portions of Great Britain 

 than on the western side, and do not appear to have extended to 

 the Outer Hebrides ; while to Ireland they have been few and far 

 between. In England it has been obtained in almost every county, 

 including the south and the extreme south-west ; and on the spring 

 migration, in Norfolk up to the first week in May. Its visits depend 

 on the severity of the weather on the Continent, but it does not 

 follow that the same winter should be rigorous in the British Islands 



The wanderings of the Waxwing are not known to extend in a 

 south-westerly direction as far as the Pyrenees or the Spanish 

 Peninsula ; but from Provence, in the south-east of France, we can 

 trace them across the northern districts of Italy to Turkey. In 



N 2 



