i 7 6 



LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



frontal band of black, and margined behind with a narrow lin< 

 of white ; ear-coverts and cheeks brown, with a white spot or 

 the fore part of the latter ; a narrow moustachial line of black 

 under-parts white, tinged with yellow, which becomes mor 

 marked on the vent ; the throat, breast, and flanks browi 

 streaked with pale fulvous edges to the feathers. 



Eange in Great Britain. An irregular visitant in autumn an< 

 winter, sometimes coming in large numbers, though it occui 

 nearly every year. The years when great invasions have 

 taken place in this country have been recorded as follows 

 1830-31, 1834-35, 1849-50, 1866-67, and 1872-73; but th< 

 earliest notice of the species in England dates back to 1681, 

 when an account of its occurrence near York was published ii 

 the " Philosophical Transactions." The Wax-wing has occurred 

 in nearly every part of England and Scotland, but the Irisl 

 records are fewer. As might be expected, the bulk of th( 

 specimens are obtained in our eastern counties, where, in 

 some of the years above-mentioned, large numbers have been 

 shot. During the migration of the winter of 1872 many were 

 noticed in the neighbourhood of the north of London. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Wax-wing is a circum- 

 polar bird, and is an inhabitant of high northern latitudes in 

 Europe, Asia, and North America. In the temperate portions 

 of the latter continent its place is taken by an allied species, 

 the Cedar-bird (Ampelis cedrorum\ which is smaller, and is 

 distinguished by its white under tail-coverts and olive-yellow 

 flanks. 



The Wax-wing is found in winter in most of the countries of 

 Europe, though of irregular occurrence ; it has not yet been 

 found in the Pyrenees or the Spanish peninsula, but has been 

 known to reach the south of France, and the northern provinces 

 of Italy, as well as of Turkey. At the same time of year it visits 

 Central Asia, North China, and the northern island of Japan. 

 Its breeding quarters are the pine regions in the north of the 

 Old and New Worlds, about the line of the Arctic Circle. It 

 has been recorded as nesting in North-eastern Norway, in Lap- 

 land, in Finland, and Mr. Seebohm says that he met with it 

 during the breeding season in the valleys of the Petchora and 

 the Yenesei. Although the species occurs in the interior of 



