THE BOHEMIAN WAXWING. 161 



exclusively on fruits and berries. This has been softened 

 into Bornbycilla, which means, I presume, a little Bombyx, 

 though the bird in question is far larger than any known 

 moth.* Its French name Jaseur, equivalent to the English 

 one, Chatterer, is quite as inappropriate, as it is singu- 

 larly silent. Why again it should be called Bohemian, 

 no one seems to know ; for it is no more a resident in 

 Bohemia, nor even more frequent there, than in England. 

 In default of all certain information, then, I venture to 

 surmise that, coming in parties, no one knows whence, and 

 going no one knows whither, they may have received the 

 name Bohemian, because they resemble in their habits the 

 wandering tribes of gipsies, who were formerly called in- 

 differently Egyptians and Bohemians. Taken in this sense, 

 the Bohemian or Wandering Waxwing is a name open to no 

 exception. The plumage of the bird is silky, and that of 

 the head is remarkable for forming a crest, and being 

 capable of being elevated, as in the Cardinal. Its black 

 gorget and tiara, the patches of white, yellow, and black 

 described above, make it very conspicuous for colouring, 

 and the singularity of its appearance is much increased by 

 the appendages to its secondaries and tertiaries, which re- 

 semble in colour and substance red sealing-wax. In very 

 old birds these waxen appendages are also to be found at 

 the extremities of the tail-feathers, being no more than the 

 shafts of the feathers condensed with the web. In its 

 habits the Waxwing resembles the Tits. It feeds on fruit, 

 berries, and seeds. Its call-note is a twitter, which it 

 rarely utters, except when taking flight and alighting. It 

 is generally considered that the Waxwing is a northern 

 bird, and Dr. Eichardson, the arctic traveller, informs us 

 that he one day saw a flock, consisting of three or four 

 hundred birds, alight on one or two trees in a grove of 



* As the silkworm belongs to the genus JBombyx, the name 

 Bonibycilla may have been given as descriptive of the plumage, 

 which is remarkably silky in texture. 



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