164 THE WAXWING 



killed in Norfolk during the visitation of 1866-7. Of these forty-one 

 were males and twenty-seven females. While the wings of males 

 showed from four to nine tips, females ranged from two to eight. Only 

 one bird, however, had eight, and only two had seven. The average 

 number was from four to six. No males had fewer than four, only 

 three had as many as eight. Of twenty-eight birds, fourteen had six 

 and fourteen had seven. These tips were also larger in the males 

 than in the females. He, like other ornithologists of his day, was 

 inclined to believe that the number of these wax tips increased with 

 age. 1 In specimens in which the plumage is much worn these 

 appendages are lost completely. 



It has been stated that similar appendages are borne on the tail 

 feathers, but as a matter of fact instances of this are excessively rare, 

 but there is frequently a tendency to produce such ornaments. 

 Among the large series of skins in the British Museum there will be 

 found a few, for example, wherein the terminal portion of the shaft 

 embraced by the yellow tip of the feather is coloured red, and in one 

 or two cases the shaft even projects slightly beyond the vane, and 

 shows a tendency towards flattening. In such cases more or fewer of 

 the barbs on either side of the shaft, and at the extreme tip of the 

 feather, are likewise coloured red. 



The markings on the primaries, to which reference has already 

 been made, demand further notice, for on this subject much has been 

 written. 2 In immature birds the outer web of the tip of each primary 

 is marked by an oblong patch of white, decreasing in size towards 

 the outermost feathers, as a rule, and especially in males this white 

 is tinged with lemon-yellow. In the closed wing these oblong bars 

 form a continuous stripe ; with advancing age the yellow colour 

 becomes more intense, while a white line begins to creep round the 



1 Stevenson, H., On the Plumage of the Waxwing. Trans. Norf. and Norw. Nat. Soc., vol. iii. 

 pp. 326-344. 



2 Harvie-Brown, Travels of a Naturalist in N. Europe, vol. i. p. 218; Baird, Brewer and 

 Ridgway, History of North American Birds, vol. i. p. 397 ; Seehohm, H., in Dresser's Birds of 

 Europe, vol. iii. p. 429 ; Stevenson, H., On the Plumage of the Waxicing, Trans. Norf. and Norw. 

 Nat. Soc., vol. iii. p. 12. 



