THE BOHEMIAN WAXWING. 87 



longed for by the ornithologists of the whole world. Various were the plans they bethought them of 

 for attaining this desideratissimum. Many tried to keep pairs of living birds, in the hope of inducing 

 them to breed in confinement. One enthusiastic egg-collector, Baron R. Von. Konig-Warthausen, we 

 are told, even went to the trouble of caging a whole flock. It is true that here and there an oologist 

 might be found with whom the ' wish was father to the thought,' and who accordingly deluded 

 himself into the belief that in some unusually large specimen of the egg of the allied species (Ampelis 

 cedrorum), or in some queerly-coloured monstrosity of a bird, perhaps not at all connected, he 

 recognised a genuine production of Ampelis yarrulus ; but such instances were certainly exceptional, 

 and there can be little doubt that prior to 1856 no one with any pretension to the title of naturalist 

 had ever set eyes on a real egg or nest of the Waxwing, and that this privilege was reserved for one 

 who of all men eminently merited it. It is due, however, to Scandinavian naturalists to say that 

 several of them who had travelled in Lapland had expressed themselves confident that the bird did 

 sometimes breed in that country ; and though the reports of its nesting which some of them brought 

 home have been shown by Mr. Wolley's discovery to be probably incorrect, yet it was, I think, reliance 

 on the general fidelity of those gentlemen in matters of this kind which kept alive my friend's hopes 

 of one day finding the long-sought treasure : but hopes they were of a kind so remote, that when they 

 were fulfilled he was justified in speaking of the discovery as ' unexpected.' 



" The first intimation I received from Mr. Wolley that the discovery was accomplished was con- 

 tained in a letter written by him on his way up the Baltic, and dated 2nd September, 1856. He says : 

 ' Let me tell you now, whilst I think of it, that I have some reason for believing that the Waxwing 

 makes its nest in good-sized fir-trees in the month of June. I give you this hint in case I should 

 not live to give you more certain information ; but you remember that I am not to return home 

 without a Waxwing's nest in my hand.' He had, in fact, a few days before, when at Stockholm, 

 received from his faithful Ludwig a letter telling him of the discovery, in which Ludwig had 

 himself assisted, and respecting the truth of which he said, his ' master must be quite sure without 

 doubt.' Mr. Wolley, however, forbore to allow his own or my expectations to be raised too highly, 

 and in spite of his receiving confirmatory evidence on his arrival at Haparanda and on his way , 

 up the river, it was not until he had reached Muoniovara, and had satisfied himself by repeated 

 investigation of the whole story, that lie trusted himself to write to me positively. His letter, 

 dated 'Muoniovara, 14th September, 1856,' after describing his own doings and those of the friends 

 I had made the preceding year, telling me of the expected scarcity of food, and giving the 

 general results of the nesting season, goes on to say : 



" ' I have still to tell you of Ludwig's expedition with Piko Heiki to Sardio, on the Kittila 

 River. It was early in June, and he had to wade over Pallas-tunturi up to his middle in snow. 

 Arrived at Sardio, he found there all at home, deep in dirt and laziness. He soon extracted 

 from them the information that a pair of birds had been about, which they took to be Tuka 

 ritxtas ; and Ludwig himself had seen such a bird, and this bird's egg was entered in my list. 

 Ludwig immediately started off into the forest, and sure enough he saw a bird 

 which he thought was Sidensvans ; but he was not quite sure, for the end of its tail looked white 

 in the sun instead of yellow, as in your picture, but the next day, or in the evening, it was 

 cloudy, and Ludwig saw the yellow ; and now he had no longer any doubt. He said he would give 

 all the lads day-money, and they must all search, even if it were for a week, till they found the 

 nest. They sought all that night and the next clay till about midday, when a lad called out that 

 he had found the nest ; and there it was, with two eggs, about nine feet high on the branch of a 

 spruce. . . . After five days Ludwig snared the old bird a beautiful cock ; and you may fancy 

 with what pleasure I took it in my hand and saw that there were no doubts remaining. Indeed, I 

 had before been pretty confident about it : Ludwig had written that I might be quite satisfied that it 

 was the right bird. Martin Pekka had the picture with him at Sodankyla, and as soon as he came 

 back Ludwig compared the bird with it, and certainty was doubly sure. The other picture went to 

 Gellivara. . . . I do not expect Waxwings in that quarter. You can fancy how eagerly I waited 

 for Ludwig to produce the eggs. With a trembling hand he brought them out : but first the nest, 

 beautifully preserved. It is made principally of black ' tree-hair ' (lichen), with dried spruce twigs 

 outside, partially lined with a little sheep's-grass and one or two feathers a large, deep nest. The 



