16 
(not, as might have been supposed, in the tracts bordering on Russian and Swedish Lapland) in 
the wooded regions south of the Dovre. On the 5th of August, 1860, my friend Mr. Barth shot a 
young bird just fledged, which, with the rest of the brood, was frequenting the uppermost conifer- 
woods in Vaage, Gudbrandsdalen (61° 50’). ‘The eggs from which the brood were hatched must 
have been laid in the beginning of July. So far back as 1853 it was repeatedly observed in the 
course of the summer in the subalpine conifer-woods of Valders; and an individual having been 
snared in Land (61°) at the latter end of May 1862, there is good reason to suppose that this 
species, at least in certain years, breeds sporadically in the woods of Southern Norway. 
“In the summer of 1868 Nordwi procured its eggs, for the first time, from South Varanger, 
near the Anarjoki,a tributary of the Tana. In the outlying districts of Finmark it rarely occurs, 
a few individuals only having been observed. 
“At Bosekop, in Alten, I found this species abundant in July 1872. I observed the first 
pair on the 14th of that month in a wet clump of non-evergreen trees (Salices). The female 
being killed, the male would not quit the spot, but flew about wildly, uttering his ordinary cry, 
and at intervals a peculiar note, expressive of dread, never heard in winter. Both of these 
individuals, as also a third shot the same day (male), were found on examination to be in the 
middle of the breeding-stage. In the two males the testes were of the size of peas, the eggs in 
the females being still larger. Unfortunately I had not time to look for a nest, having to leave 
shortly by a steamer. Alten (70°) is doubtless the most northern locality at which this species 
has hitherto been found breeding. A few days later Mr. Berlin, a young German tourist, 
discovered two nests at-the mouth of the Utsjoki, a Russian tributary of the Tana, but whether 
on Russian or Norwegian soil is unknown. The nests were both found in birches, from 4 to 
10 feet from the ground, and contained respectively two and five fresh eggs each. As to time, 
this corresponds pretty nearly with the development of eggs in females shot in Alten; for this 
species, therefore, the breeding-season was either unusually late that summer (vide Wolley’s 
dates), or the period of nidification is very variable.” 
The typical eggs of the Waxwing are pale blue, marked with purplish underlying shell- 
markings and black overlying surface spots. Those in my collection, obtained by myself in 
Finland and by Mr. Wolley in Lapland, are all thus marked; but varieties are not uncommon, 
and these are fully illustrated by Professor Newton (Ibis, 1861, pl. 4), who there figures the 
ordinary eggs, such as I describe above, as well as a peculiar variety having the ground-colour 
dull olive, and another with a very warm-coloured ground-tint, besides one with linear markings. 
I cannot do better than refer my readers to the above-quoted plate as being the best representa- 
tion of the eggs of this species that has been published up to the present time. The eggs of the 
Waxwing in my collection vary in size from 28 by 2% to 23 by 2§ inch. 
The food of the Waxwing consists during the summer season of various species of insects 
and berries, especially those of the juniper, and during the winter of berries only; at that season 
of the year they feed largely on the berries of the rowan or mountain-ash. ‘The stomachs of a 
pair shot by Mr. Meves in the late summer near Undersaker, in Sweden, contained chiefly insects— 
there being in that of the male three Hirtea marci, thirty-eight Mayflies, three Phryganew, and 
eight berries of Empetrum nigrum, and in that of the female forty-six Hirtea marci and five 
Mayflies. The young birds appear to be fed chiefly, if not entirely, on berries of various kinds. 
det 
9) 
ed 
