364 THE BOHEMIAN WAXWING, OR WAXEN CHATTEEEE. 



indeed still are, humense flocks of Waxwing Chatterers quite close to the house. They are 

 not at all shy, allowing a person to approach easily within shot. They come into all the 

 gardens round by thousands, in quest of the berries of a tree, which I believe is the 

 mountain ash, having been driven south, as I suppose, either on account of the cold or in 

 search of food. Some of the flocks contained several thousands, but are now much 

 diminished in nimibers, on account of some having gone soutliwards, and others been 

 kdled. Tiiey make a great noise when sitting together, which they do in great numbers, 

 making a tree look quite black with them. On one occasion I killed twenty at one shot, 

 at another eighteen, and at another seventeen. One of these birds I shot had the wax at 

 the tip of the tail, as well as on the wings." This curious divergence from the usual 

 formation has been noticed in the cedar bird (an American species of the same genus), by 

 Wilson, as will be mentioned in the account of that bird. Perhaps the waxen appendage 

 of the tail may rather be termed a fvdl development of the original idea, than a divergence 

 from the usual form. 



The long, flat, scarlet appendages to the wings, and, as we have seen, to the tail also, 

 are usually confined to the secondaries and tertiaries, at whose extremities they dangle as 

 if they had been formed separately, and fastened to the feathers as an afterthought. 

 Indeed, they so precisely resemble red sealing-wax, that any one on seeing the bird for the 

 first time M'ould probably suppose that a tiick had been played upon him by some one 

 who desired to tax liis credulity to a very great extent. The full number of these 

 ajipendages is eiglit, four on the secondaries and the same number on the tertiaries, but 

 they vary according to the age of the bird, the secondaries keeping their full complement, 

 and the tertiaries having from one to four, according to age and development. None of 

 the wax-like appendages are developed until the second year. 



Although the migratory habits of this bird are well known, and many of the localities 

 which it frequents have lieen recorded liy 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 ordmary limits of scientific observation. 



Some authors place its residence in Central Asia, upon the elevated table-land of that 

 region, otliers thiidv that it builds in Tartary, others place its home in the eastern parts of 

 Northern Europe, others in the Arctic regions, while Dr. Eichardson believes that it may 

 be traced to America : " The mountainous nature of the country skirting the Northern 

 Pacific Ocean being congenial to the habits of this species, it is probably more generally 

 diffused in New Caledonia and the Eussian-Americau territories, than to the westward of 

 the Eocky Mountain chain. It appears in flocks at Great Bear Lake about the twenty-fifth 

 of May, when the spring thaw has exposed the berries of the alpine arbutus, marsh 

 vaccinium, &c. that have been frozen and covered during winter. It stays only for a few 

 days, and none of tlie Indians of that quarter, with whom I conversed, had seen its nest ; 

 but I have reason to believe that it retires in the breeding season to the rugged and 

 secluded mountain-limestone district in the sixty-seventh and sixty-eighth parallels, where 

 it feeds on the fruit of the common juniper which abounds in those places." 



To this country it only comes in the winter months, although there has been an 

 example of its appearance as early as August. 



In its plumage the Bohemian Waxwing is a very jiretty and striking bird, being as 

 notable ibr the silken softness of its feathers, as for its pleasingly blended colours and the 

 remarkable appendage from which it derives its popular name. The colouring of thi; 

 bird is very varied, but may briefly be described as follows : The top of tlie head and 

 crest are a light soft brown, warming into ruddy chestnut on the forehead. A well-defined 

 band of black passes over the upper base of the beak, and runs round the back of the 

 head, enveloping the eyes on each side, and there is a patch of the same jetty hue on the 

 chin. The general colour of the bird is grey-brown, the primary and secondary feathers 

 of the wings and tail are black, tipped with yellow, the primary wing-coverts are tipjied 

 with white, and the tertiaries are purplish brown, also tipped with white. The under 

 surface of the bird is sober grey, and the under tad-coverts are rich ruddy brown. The 

 length of the AA'^axen Chatterer is about eight inches. 



