3 
in the flower-market in St. Petersburg. In all collections of skins of the Waxwing I find two perfectly 
distinct types of plumage in about equal numbers :—one in which the white mark at the end of the primary 
quill-feathers is on the outside web only, and resembles the letter I; and the other, in which a similar white 
mark is continued at the end of the inner web, making the mark resemble the letter V. The I-mark I have 
invariably found associated with small wax-like appendages. The V-mark, on the other hand, is invariably 
associated with large wax-like appendages. The former I take to be the female plumage, and the latter the 
male. There are seven of the secondary quill-feathers which, in both sexes, have an I white mark on them, 
and are usually tipped with wax-like appendages. In what I take to be old birds, the eighth secondary 
quill-feather, which has no white mark, has also a wax-like appendage, but always very small; and sometimes 
the centre pair of tail-feathers, and sometimes all of them, have the shafts reddish towards the end, forming at 
the extreme end a sort of rudimentary wax tip. These peculiarities, which I take to be all indicative of age, or 
rather perhaps of full maturity, are indiscriminately found on male and female specimens, All the unfledged 
nestlings which I have seen had the I-markings on the primaries, and many young males, suggesting the 
natural conclusion that the adult plumage is not assumed by the males until they begin to pair, which I 
imagine to be the case with most birds where the plumage of the sexes is different. One of the skins in my 
collection has the mark somewhat intermediate. The white does just cross over into the extreme tip of the 
inner web ; and the wax-like appendages are somewhat larger than is usual in the female. This bird I take to 
be a male which has not yet assumed the full adult plumage. I have seen a few (comparatively very few) skins 
labelled females with the V-markings. It is possible that some of these may be old or barren females which 
have assumed the male plumage; but I am more inclined to suspect that these skins are incorrectly sexed. I 
know by experience how easy it is to make an error in this respect, especially in winter.” 
Tue Waxwing inhabits the extreme northern portions of the Palearctic and Nearctic continents 
during the summer season, migrating southward in the winter, often in extremely large flocks, and 
appearing at irregular intervals in the central parts of the above-mentioned regions. So seldom 
and irregular are its migrations to the central portion of our continent, that its appearance is 
supposed to forebode famine or pestilence; and hence its Dutch name Pestvogel, literally “bird 
of pestilence.” 
With us in Great Britain it is by no means so rare a visitant; and though not seen every 
year, still the number of occurrences on record from various portions of the British Isles tends to 
prove that its visits are not unfrequent, and that in certain years tolerably large flocks make their 
appearance. Professor Newton informs me that “the first recorded appearance in England is 
that by Lister, who, in a letter to Ray (Phil. Trans. 1685, no. 175. p. 1161, fig. 9), says that one 
or two were shot at York in January 1681. The figure of this bird, though rude, is sufficient 
to show that there is no mistake as to the species. Johnson, also writing from Brignall, in 
Yorkshire, in May 1686, describes two which had been killed in the preceding March; and 
Thoresby, in a letter to Ray, dated ‘ Leeds, April 27th, 1703,’ mentions its occurrence, stating 
that he is tempted to think that it ‘is become natural to us, there being no less than three 
killed nigh this town the last winter.’” In Scotland, according to Mr. Robert Gray (Birds of 
W. of Scotl. p. 107), it is “a frequent winter visitant to the eastern counties; but in the midland 
and western counties its appearance is extremely irregular and uncertain. It is recorded by the 
Rey. W. Patrick that a vast flock of Waxwings appeared in the haughs of Hamilton in the 
winter of 1782. Three specimens were shot there in 1830. : 
“7 have not been able to trace the occurrence of this species on any of the Outer Hebrides ; 
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