468 BREEDING OF THE WAX WING IN AMERICA 



nothing of Alaska, is pretty broad and deep, requiring a great 

 many Bohemians to make any decided impress on its scenery. 

 We are all aware now how long it was before the breeding of 

 the Waxwing in Europe was established beyond dispute, as 

 announced by Mr. John Wolley, in 1857, before the Zoological 

 Society of London, and have read Professor Newton's " Par- 

 ticulars of Mr. J. Wolley's Discovery of the Breeding of the 

 Waxwing" in the "Ibis" of 1861. Shortly afterward, Messrs. 

 Kennicott and MacFarlane each discovered the breeding of the 

 bird in America the former on the Yukon in 1861, the latter 

 on Anderson Eiver during the same or the following year. 

 Publication of this discovery, however, seems to have been 

 delayed until 1866, when it was announced by Professor Baird 

 in the following brief terms : 



u The only instance on record of their [i. e. the nest and eggs] 

 discovery in America are of a nest and one egg by Mr. Kenni- 

 cott, on the Yukon, in 1861, and a nest and single egg on the 

 Anderson Eiver, by Mr. MacFarlane, both of which, with the 

 female parents, are in the possession of the [Smithsonian] In- 

 stitution." (Eev. AB. 1866, 406.) 



This is the same material as that upon which Dr. Brewer 

 based his account of 1874 ; but the latter article disagrees with 

 Professor Baird's original and doubtless accurate note, and is 

 inconsistent in itself in several particulars, which I have itali- 

 cized in the following extract. Says Dr. Brewer : 



" Specimens of the bird were obtained on Anderson Eiver, in 

 1862, by Mr. MacFarlane, but he was not able to find the nest. 

 At Fort Yukon, July 4, [1861,] Mr Kennicott met with the nest 

 of this species. The nest, which contained but one egg, was 

 about eighteen feet from the ground, and was built on a side 

 branch of a small spruce that was growing at the outer edge of 

 a clump of thick spruces, on low ground. The nest was large, 

 the base being made of small, dry spruce twigs. Internally it 

 was constructed of fine grass and moose hair, and lined thickly 

 with large feathers. The female was shot as she rose from her 

 nest, by Mr. Kennicott's hunter, who had concealed himself 

 near the spot for that purpose. Mr. Kennicott had seen the 

 nest and both parents near it before it was taken, and had 

 thoroughly satisfied himself as to its complete identification" 

 (Hist. NAB. p. 398). On the page following, the author quotes, 

 without criticism, a statement that "its eggs have been obtained 

 at Fort Yukon". On page 400, Dr. Brewer redescribes the 



