r 



THE WAXWING 163 



victims ! So ingrained is this stupid superstition as to the association 

 of this harmless bird with war, famine, and pestilence, that in parts of 

 Europe it has been branded with the infamous name of Pestvogel. 



The details of this plumage we have already set forth in the 

 " Classified Notes," but there remain a few points demanding further 

 notice. The first of these concern the " wax " tips of the wings, which 

 form -go singular a feature of this bird's plumage. These are horny 

 plates of about three-eighths of an inch long, and about one-eighth wide, 

 those of the middle of the series being the largest, and in shape may 

 be likened to long, narrow spoons ; more accurately, perhaps, they may 

 be likened to human finger-nails, long, narrow, and filbert-shaped, the 

 outer surface being rounded and the under surface hollow ; while in 

 colour and texture they resemble red sealing-wax, having the same 

 highly glazed surface, at least externally, the under surface being of a 

 pale pinkish hue, 1 and slightly grooved. 



They are formed by an extension of the uppermost layers of the 

 shaft of the feather, and hence project beyond the web. Only the 

 secondaries, and in rare instances the tail, have these curious orna- 

 ments. While in the outermost secondary the wax tip projects 

 beyond both the outer and inner webs, it will be found that as the 

 series is traced inwards, the web of the inner vane creeps up, as it 

 were, along the free edge of wax tip, so that the inner web is markedly 

 longer than the outer (Fig. p. 156). The innermost feather, however, 

 bears but a small tip, and this, like that at the other extreme, stands 

 clear of the web on both sides. 



These curious appendages, it is to be noted, are developed even in 

 the nestlings, and may be seen in the callow young, and the number 

 borne on each wing seems to be determined rather by individual vigour 

 than by age, while they tend to be more numerous in males than in 

 females. Further, there may be an unequal number of tips on the two 

 wings. The late Henry Stevenson made a careful analysis of the number 

 and size of these tips, from material furnished by sixty-eight specimens 



1 Andersen, C. H., (Efvers K. Vet-Ak ForhandL, 1859, pp. 219-231, pi. ii. 



