148 WAXWING. 



summer the bird inhabits the Arctic regions, within the limits of 

 tree-growth, in Europe and Asia ; but it is very erratic, nesting for 

 some seasons in large numbers in certain districts and then suddenly 

 abandoning them. Its breeding-range extends across Bering Strait 

 to Alaska and the Rocky Mountains, while in winter the United 

 States — exceptionally as far south as 35° N. lat. — are visited. The 

 representative species in temperate North America is the Cedar- 

 bird, A. cedroriwi, which is rather smaller, without any white or 

 yellow on the wings, and is erroneously stated to have visited Great 

 Britain. Our Waxwing occurs in winter in Japan and Northern 

 China, but there the resident species is A. phcenicoptera, which has 

 red markings on the wings and tail, but no wax-like tips. 



The accouht of the discovery of the breeding of the Waxwing, 

 with which the name of WoUey will always be associated, has been 

 given by his friend and sometime companion Professor Newton, in 

 'The Ibis' for 1861 (pp. 92-106), and in the 4th Edition of ' Yar- 

 rell's British Birds.' My limits will only allow me to say that the 

 first nests and eggs were found in 1856 in Russian Lapland, since 

 which a great many have been taken ; and the breeding-range is 

 now known to extend westward to the north-eastern portion of Nor- 

 way, and southward to about 65° N. lat., on the shores of the Gulf 

 of Bothnia. Open portions of the forest appear to be preferred ; 

 the rather large nest being placed on a branch of a spruce, Scotch 

 fir, or birch, and mainly composed of the lichen known as tree-hair, 

 on a platform of dead twigs. The eggs, 5-7, are pale purplish-grey, 

 blotched and streaked with several shades of brown and lilac : 

 average measurements '97 by •68 in. In summer the food of the 

 Waxwing consists of crane-flies and other insects, but later on hips, 

 juniper and other berries are eaten voraciously. The only note of 

 this almost silent bird is a low cir-ir-ir-ir-re (Seebohm). 



Adult male : frontal band, lores, eye-region and chin black ; fore- 

 head and sides of the crest chestnut-brown ; general plumage light 

 greyish-brown, shading into ash-grey on the rump and abdomen ; 

 wing-coverts black, tipped with white ; secondaries spotted with 

 white at the end of the outer web, and with tips like red sealing- 

 wax ; primaries black, with V-shaped white and yellow borders ; 

 tail blackish, terminated by a broad yellow band, and, in mature 

 birds, with small red wax-like tips ; under tail-coverts chestnut ; bill, 

 legs and feet black. Length 7-5 in. ; wing 4-5 in. Female : rather 

 duller, with fewer wax-like tips and generally without the white edges 

 to the inner webs of the primaries. Young : browner and without 

 the black throat. 



