194 AMPELID^ : WAXWINGS. 



vegetable matters — bark, leaves, roots, twigs, weeds, 

 grasses, sometimes even paper, rags, and twine ; lining 

 the composite fabric with finer grass stems, hair, or 

 wool. The eggs, which run from 3 to 6 in a set, are 

 very characteristic, having a livid bluish or pale bluish 

 ground, more or less thickly and nearly always sharply 

 dotted, spotted, or blotched with blackish spots, and 

 others of the same dark tint, but appearing paler be- 

 cause under instead of on the surface, being therefore 

 overlaid with the ground-color of the shell. Whitish 

 eggs with faint obsolete markings are sometimes seen, 

 but the usual style is well-pronounced, as just de- 

 scribed. In shape the eggs are rather elongate and 

 narrow, though there is much variation in this respect. 

 Fair samples measure about 0.82x0.60. The Wax- 

 wing is such a lazy breeder, that probably the latest 

 broods, sometimes seen even in August, are not a 

 second lot for the season. It is a remarkably silent 

 bird, without anything to be called a song; the ordi- 

 nary note is soft, low, and lisping — Minot calls it a 

 " dreary whisper," and Coues describes the effort as 

 " a weak and wheezy whistle." 



