THE WAXWING 169 



confinement. The earlier attempts in this direction were essayed for 

 the sake of obtaining the eggs there, one of the most coveted prizes of 

 the oologists. The Baron Konig-Warthausen even went to the trouble 

 of caging a whole flock, but to no purpose. Later attempts, made by 

 aviculturists have been more successful. This is particularly true in 

 the case of Mr. W. H. St. Quintin, in whose fine aviaries waxwings 

 have twice bred. He had the good fortune indeed to figure and 

 describe the first egg ever laid by a waxwing in confinement. 1 His 

 notes on the coloration of the mouth parts of the nestling are given 

 elsewhere in this chapter (p. 165). As cage-birds they are disappoint- 

 ing. The late Henry Seebohm described a pair which he kept as 

 most voracious eaters, and their cage required cleaning out several 

 times a day. They were very active and restless, and even when 

 perched at rest seemed to be continually moving their heads. If 

 alarmed, they would stretch out their necks to almost double the 

 usual length, but they were remarkably silent birds. Mr. St. Quintin, 

 commenting on these statements, remarks that birds kept, as in 

 his case, in large open-air aviaries, with plenty of room for flight, 

 behave quite differently. "I think," he remarks, "there can be no 

 more charming occupants of a garden aviary than a pair or two of 

 waxwings." 2 



1 Avic. Mag., 1909, vol. vii. p. 115. * Tom. cit. 



VOL. II. 



