4 
but several specimens were seen and shot in the Isle of Skye in 1850. It has likewise been 
obtained in Argyleshire and Wigtownshire. A specimen, which I saw, was taken alive at 
Portpatrick in the winter of 1866. Early in December of that year Waxwings were observed 
in various parts of Britain in large flocks, greatly exceeding those of former years; and from one 
or two correspondents I learned that these migratory flocks had spread themselves over a large 
tract of country. In the north of England they were observed in the month of November; and 
I heard of as many as fifty-seven specimens having been killed in a single week in one county 
alone. On the eastern side of Scotland examples occurred sparingly in nearly all the counties; 
but in Aberdeenshire and Morayshire they were seen in flocks of forty or fifty birds. In the 
western counties, on the other hand, I could not learn of a single instance of the bird’s capture ; 
but in midland districts small parties were observed. One of these stray flocks, consisting of five 
birds, made its appearance near Lanark, in a garden where there were several rowan trees, on the 
berries of which the birds fed, until by their tameness they attracted the attention of a bird- 
stuffer, who managed to shoot them all after they had been some days in the neighbourhood. 
The arrival of these erratic birds in such numbers in the year referred to at once suggested a 
winter of unusual severity—a surmise which was afterwards abundantly verified, though at the 
time of their first appearance it was difficult to believe there could be such a thing in prospect, 
the weather then being remarkably mild.” It has been met with in ail our northern and eastern 
counties; and regarding its occurrence in Norfolk I may quote Mr. H. Stevenson, who states 
(B. of N. 1. p. 154) that “Sir Thomas Browne does not appear to have noticed this species; and 
the earliest record therefore of its appearance in Norfolk and Suffolk is contained in the 
‘Catalogue’ of Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, who speak of it as an occasional visitant, which 
‘has not unfrequently made its appearance in the counties, and generally from November to 
March.’ They also allude to its abundance at Herringfleet in 1810, and to a ‘ prodigious flock’ 
observed at Bawdsey, in Suffolk, some years prior to the date of their publication (1825). In 1829, 
according to the Messrs. Paget, of Yarmouth, they were very plentiful in that neighbourhood, 
and several were obtained in the winters of 1847 and 1848, in the latter year more especially ; 
but in the following winter of 1849-50 perhaps the largest number ever known in this country 
were observed along the entire eastern coast of England and many parts of Scotland. Upwards 
of thirty successive notices, from various parts, of specimens obtained appeared at that time in the 
‘ Zoologist ;) and though even these conveyed but a very small idea of the numbers that actually 
visited us, they amounted to five hundred and eighty-six birds killed. A very large proportion of 
these were procured in the month of January, when in Norfolk alone twenty-two specimens were 
obtained and sent into Norwich for preservation.” In the southern and western counties it has 
been met with from time to time, as the records in the ‘Zoologist’ and ‘ Field, the journals 
which so often contain the news of the untimely end of many rare visitors to our island, clearly 
show; but it appears to occur more rarely on the west coast. Speaking of its having been met 
with in Somersetshire, Mr. Cecil Smith writes to me that “it is a rare visitant; our vicar, the 
Rey. M. A. Mathew, recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ the appearance of one in his garden at Bishops 
Lydeard on the 7th of February, and of another on the 23rd of March this year.” The last 
winter in which the Waxwing appeared in England in large numbers was that of 1866-67 ; and 
referring to its occurrence near Sheffield that season, Mr. H. Seebohm writes to me as follows :— 
