THE BOHEMIAN WAX-WING, OR WAXEN CHATTERER. 211 



fruits, the cherries and mulberries. But at this season, to repay the 

 gardener for the tithe of his crop, their natural due, they fail not to 

 assist in ridding his trees of more deadly enemies which infest them, 

 and the small caterpillars, beetles, and various insects now constitute 

 their only food ; and for hours at a time they may be seen feeding on 

 the all-despoiling Canker-worms, which infest our Apple trees and 

 Elms. On these occasions, silent and sedate, after plentifully feeding, 

 they sit dressing their feathers, in near contact on the same branch 

 to the number of five or six; and as the season of selective attach- 

 ment approaches, they may be observed pluming each other, and 

 caressing with the most gentle fondness; a playfulness, in which, 

 however, they are even surpassed by the contemned Raven, to which 

 social and friendly family our Cedar Bird, different as he looks, has 

 many traits of alliance. 



THE BOHEMIAN WAXWING, OR WAXEN CHATTERER. 



The Bohemian Waxwing, or Waxen Chatterer, is only occasionally 

 seen in England during 

 severe frosts, at which 

 time flocks of them 

 sometimes arrive. One 

 of these birds was shot 

 at Oxford in the winter 

 of 1846. It is very com- 

 mon in Norway and 

 Russia, and is plentiful 

 in North America. The 

 name of Waxwing is 

 given to it from the sin 

 gular appendages to the 

 secondary quill feathers, 

 bearing much resem- 

 blance to a drop of red 

 sealing-wax pressed on 

 the wing. 



Berries of all kinds, 

 especially those of the 

 dog-rose and the haw- 

 thorn, form the principal 

 food of this bird; but it 

 is related that when in 

 captivity it rejects 

 scarcely any vegetable 

 substance, but loses at 

 the same time all its 

 vivacity and social 

 habits. ^ The note of the Waxwing is not unlike that of the Thrush, 

 but it is very weak and more uncertain than the notes of that beau- 

 14 



THE BOHEMIAN WAXWING. 



