8 BRITISH BIRDS. 



purplish grey. On this are almost always bold blotches, spots, and specks 

 of deep brownish black, though sometimes the edges are blurred. Beneath 

 these stronger markings there is nearly always a series of blotches or 

 streaks of greyish lilac, and among them well-defined spots or specks of 

 yellowish brown are interspersed. In some eggs the darkest markings 

 are quite wanting, in others the ground is of a deep olive -colour." 



The adult male Wax wing is an exquisitely beautiful bird. The upper 

 parts are a delicate vinaceous brown, gradually shading into chestnut on 

 the forehead, and into pale slate-grey or dove-colour on the rump and 

 upper tail-coverts. A narrow frontal band, the lores, and the feathers 

 behind the eyes are black. The quills and tail-feathers are dark brown, 

 nearly black, varied with a broad yellow band across the tips of the tail- 

 feathers, and a narrow band of the same colour on the outside webs of the 

 primaries at the tip, and a white band across the tips of the primaries on 

 the inside webs, and on the outside webs of the secondaries at the tips. The 

 primary -coverts are tipped with white, and the shafts of the secondaries are 

 prolonged and flattened into scarlet tips. A similar development of the 

 shafts of the tail-feathers frequently occurs. The underparts are vinaceous 

 brown on the breast and flanks, shading into greyish white on the centre 

 of the belly and into chestnut on the cheeks. At the base of the lower 

 mandible on each side is a white streak. The chin and upper throat are 

 black, and the under tail-coverts chestnut. Bill nearly black, paler at the 

 base ; legs, feet, and claws black ; irides hazel. 



The difference in plumage between the sexes of the Waxwing is still a 

 disputed question amongst ornithologists. A great proportion of males 

 have large wax-like appendages to the tips of the secondaries, broad bright 

 yellow tips to the tail-feathers, and have the bright yellow tips of the out- 

 side web of the primaries connected with a white tip at the end of the 

 inside web, making the marking on the primaries V-shaped. Most of the 

 females have the wax-like appendages smaller, the tips of the tail-feathers 

 narrower and paler, and the tips of the outside webs of the primaries pale 

 and entirely wanting at the end of the inside webs, thus causing the 

 markings on the primaries to be I-shaped. Males of the year generally are 

 indistinguishable from females, but frequently are slightly intermediate 

 between the two sexes when adult in one or all of the points alluded to. 

 The presence of wax on the tail-feathers and on the eighth secondary, which 

 is without the white stripe on the outside web, is apparently a question of 

 vigour or age, and not of sex. The richness of the chestnut of the under 

 tail-coverts and of the black of the throat appears to be a question of age. 

 The Waxwing is most brilliant in plumage immediately after the autumn 

 moult, which takes place late in October. I have an example in my 

 collection in full moult obtained at Krasnoyarsk on the 3rd of November ; 

 examples from the same locality in May are already considerably faded. 



