BOHEMIAN WAXWING. 415 



observed, the appearance of these birds, though accidental, 

 is much more frequent, and the winters of 1787-88 and 9, 

 1790 and 91, 1803, 1810, 1820, 22, 28, 1830, 31, 34 and 

 35, 1850-51 and 52, are particularly recorded as having 

 afforded opportunities of obtaining specimens, in some one 

 or other of various northern localities. 



Although this bird is called the Bohemian Waxwing, it 

 is not more plentiful in Bohemia than it is in England. It 

 is in the central and southern parts of the European conti- 

 nent, as it is here, only an accidental visitor in winter. It 

 is a rare bird in France and Provence ; still more rare 

 as far south as Italy, and never crosses the Mediterranean 

 Sea. The geographical range of this bird east and west is, 

 however, very extensive. M. Temininck says it is an 

 inhabitant of Japan, a country which produces another 

 species of this same genus. Our bird is found in various 

 northern parts of Asia, Europe, and North America ; this 

 latter country also producing another species of this genus ; 

 but these three are the only species known ; and the 

 European bird is the largest as well as the finest of the 

 three. 



The country in which this bird produces its young is not 

 decidedly ascertained, and its habits in that season of the 

 year are but imperfectly known. Frisch says it is a bird 

 of Tartary, where it breeds among rocks. The Prince of 

 Canino says, "It seems probable that their chief place of 

 abode is in the oriental parts of the old Continent ; and, 

 if we may hazard an opinion, we should not be surprised 

 if the extensive and elevated table-land of Central Asia 

 were found to be their principal rendezvous, whence, like 

 the Tartars in former times, they make their irregular 

 excursions." M. Temininck, in the Supplement to his 

 Manual, says, the European Waxwing breeds in the eastern 

 parts of the North of Europe, and lives in the northern 



