174 Ampelidce. 



in 1790, 1791 ; Selby in 1810, 1822, and 1823 ; Yarreli in 1830, 

 1831, 1834, and 1835 ; and Professor Newton that while scarcely 

 a year passes without the arrival of some individuals, the winters, 

 of 1830-31, 1834-35, 1849-50, and 1866-67 were remarkable for 

 the numerous occurrences of this species. Subsequently to this, 

 they have appeared in force in the winters of 1N72-73, and in 

 1882-83. Its true habitat is Northern Asia and the North- 

 eastern parts of Europe, where thirty years since Mr. Wolley 

 discovered its nest and eggs, which up to that time were un- 

 known to science. I happened to be in Paris when I heard that 

 this discovery of 1856 had been followed up in 1858 by the 

 taking by Mr. Wolley and his collectors of no less than 150- 

 nests, containing 666 eggs ; and soon after, chancing to call on 

 the well-known naturalist, M. Parzudaki, I communicated ta 

 him this interesting piece of bird news, and never shall I forget 

 the passion into which he worked himself, the mixture of envy, 

 vexation, and indignation, not unmixed with admiration, with 

 which this hot-tempered but enthusiastic ornithologist received 

 the intelligence, as he marched up and down the room, shrugging 

 his shoulders and throwing up his arms as he exclaimed over 

 and over again : ' Six cent soixant six, six cent soixant six,' the 

 real cause of his fury being that Mr. Wolley at this time declined 

 to sell any of these eggs, but sent them all to England, and none 

 were to be had by M. Parzudaki and his friends in Paris.* 



It is a handsome, gay bird, of a cinnamon- brown colour, tinged 

 with red ; the feathers on the head are long and silky in texture, 

 forming a crest : but the peculiarity from which it takes its name 

 consists in its having on the tips of the wing quill-feathers, littlo 

 flat scarlet horny appendages, exactly resembling drops of red 

 sealing-wax ; the tail-feathers are tipped with pale yellow. The- 

 specific name, garrula, and one of its common sobriquets, 

 * Chatterer/ would seem to proclaim it at once as of noisy habits - 

 but this, Professor Newton points out, is by no means the case>. 



* For a most interesting and detailed report of the breeding of the Wax wing 

 see Ibis for 1861, pp. 92-106 ; and Ibis for 1862, p. 295. Also Professor 

 Newton in fourth edition of Terrell's * British Birds,' vol. i., pp. 528-533. 



