VOl i™ H ] • General Notes. 369 



in another minute or two another cherry met a similar fate. I watched 

 these birds with some curiosity, and saw them about four days later leaving 

 the nest apparently all well, and none the worse for the strenuous ordeal. — 

 Wm. L. Baily, Ardmore, Pa. 



The Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrula) at Ithaca, N. Y. — 



While walking over the campus of Cornell University at noon on November 

 28, 1914, we observed a flock of about a dozen Cedar Waxwings in a group 

 -of trees that included a berry-laden mountain ash (Pyrus americana). An 

 hour later we had stopped to watch the birds again, and were discussing 

 the points of difference between the notes of our two species of Waxwings. 

 At that moment the characteristic notes of Bombycilla garrula most oppor- 

 tunely caught our attention, and their author was presently distinguished 

 among the rest of the Waxwings by means of its larger size and its white 

 wing markings. In order that others might share in the pleasure of seeing 

 such an unusual visitor, we summoned by 'phone Messrs. A. A. Allen, L. A. 

 Fuertes, and A. H. Wright, and all were enabled to make observations on 

 the bird under very favorable conditions. 



Its actions accorded with the proverbial gentleness and amicability of 

 the Waxwings. It allowed a Cedar Waxwing to perch beside it and feed 

 upon the same cluster of mountain-ash berries; and twice a berry seemed 

 to be passed from one to the other. It was somewhat restless, and once 

 it circled swiftly around a nearby house, swerving from side to side in an 

 erratic course suggesting that of a Teal. 



The following prominent characters served to distinguish the Bohemian 

 Waxwing from the other species in the field: its larger size; the white 

 markings in the wing, conspicuous whether the bird is flying or at rest; 

 the larger patch of black on its chin; its generally grayer coloration; and 

 its chestnut-rufous under tail coverts. 



Furthermore, its notes are very diagnostic. Though similar in general 

 form to the " beady notes " of B. cedrorum, they are less shrill, are more 

 leisurely uttered, and have a more noticeable rolling sound. They are also 

 more distinct, there being a comparatively greater interval between each 

 syllable in the series. The call has been represented by Seebohm as 

 eir-ir-ir-ir-re (quoted in Sharpe's ' Hand-book to the Birds of Great Britain,' 

 Vol. I, p. 177) and by Cameron as zir-r-r-r (' The Auk,' Vol. XXV, 1908, 

 p. 47), but neither rendering seems to express exactly the decidedly sibi- 

 lant quality of each syllable. 



The bird was collected by Dr. Allen, and sketched in the flesh by Mr. 

 Fuertes. It proved to be an adult male in full plumage. The skin has 

 been placed in the collection of the Cornell University Museum. This is 

 the first specimen recorded from the Cayuga Lake Basin. 



On the following morning another Bohemian Waxwing was reported in 

 the same place by Mr. H. H. Knight. — Ludlow Griscom and Francis 

 Harper, Ithaca, N. Y. 



