200 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



and garden roses. Next in order of merit comes the Haw- 

 thorn, with four records from wild haws iCratcBgus oxyacantlid), 

 and two from the cultivated CratcBgits pyi-acantha, a native of 

 south-eastern Europe, a food, despite its exotic origin, which 

 the Waxwings seem to have greatly appreciated. In a 

 letter to The Scotsman, the late Mr Osgood Mackenzie 

 wrote: "The Waxwing [seen on 15th November] was either 

 very hungry or very greedy, as no sooner did it fly away and 

 settle on the branch of a neighbouring Scots fir, than it 

 returned again and again to attack the berries, and it must 

 have eaten an enormous amount of them during the day." 

 On the following morning it returned with an equally hungry 

 or greedy companion. 



Three records refer to cultivated Cotoneaster, a near 

 relative of Hawthorn, and two each to cultivated Honeysuckle 

 and wild Barberry. Of the last Mr T. M'Glashan writes to me, 

 from Killiecrankie in Perthshire: "The Waxwings [first seen 

 on 1 8th November] are still with us on 25th November as 

 there are lots of hips and haws along by the battlefield ; but 

 they seem to enjoy most of all the fruit of the Barberry, 

 as the bushes are being stripped bare by the interesting 

 immigrants." 



Odd single references occur to their feeding upon the 

 berries of Elder, St John's Wort, Guelder-rose, Privet, and 

 Holly. 



Although, from the records before me, I see no evidence 

 of an increasing scarcity of berries, with the advance of 

 winter, having driven the Waxwings to unusual food, some 

 remarks made by Mr Geo. Bolam in a letter to me dated 

 1 8th February 1922, are well worthy of consideration, 

 " Though berries may be their chief or favourite food, I 

 have no doubt Waxwings can and do accommodate them- 

 selves to circumstances, like other birds. They must do so 

 in fact, when all the berries get eaten up. . . . There are 

 practically no hips and haws enough left now (mid-February) 

 to keep any bird alive, yet there are plenty of Waxwings 

 still with us, I think. ... I recollect once long ago (in the 

 'seventies) a dozen or so Waxwings continuing to frequent 

 a stackyard and cattle-courts in Northumberland, with large 



