1640 



THE PERCHING BIRDS 



bird, is peculiar to North America. Great interest for many years attached to the 

 nesting habits of the Bohemian waxwing (A. garrulus), which were surrounded by 

 mystery until solved by Messrs. Dresser and Wolley. The former of these orni- 

 thologists found the waxwing breeding in Finland in the year 1858, only two. years 

 after the latter had obtained the nest of a waxwing in Lapland. 



Writing of his nest-hunting experiences, Mr. Dresser says that, after finding a 

 tree in which a waxw r ing built, " I climbed up to the nest, which was in the fork 

 between the main stem and the first branch, and not above nine or ten feet from 

 the ground. The moment I touched it, the young ones (five in number) flew out. 

 I jumped down, and made a cut at the largest with my cap, and secured him. 

 Directly the young one which I had caught began to cry out, several waxwings 

 flew from the neighboring thicket, all, however, keeping out of gunshot, except two 



A FI.OCK OF WAXWINGS. 



which came close round me, and both of which I shot. I then sat down and imi- 

 tated as well as I could the call of the old birds. I was soon rewarded for my 

 trouble by a young one coming out of a blueberry bush, close by, and calling lustily. 

 I then climbed up again and took the nest away carefully, so as to preserve the 

 shape, and to my great delight found one egg in it. We hunted for several hours 

 in the higher part of the island for another nest, but, although we saw about nine 

 old birds, we didn't succeed in finding another nest." The eggs of the waxwing 

 are pale blue, marked with purplish underlying shell markings and black overlying 

 surface spots. In certain winters large numbers of waxwings cross the North Sea 

 to winter in the British Isles, where, unfortunately, their pretty plumage and 

 strange appearance mark them as a certain prey of the loafing gunner. In its. 



