AMPELID. 155 
THE WAXWING. 
AMPELIS GARRULUS, Linnezus. 
For upwards of two centuries this beautiful bird has been known 
to visit our islands at irregular intervals, and sometimes, as in the 
winters of 1686, 1830-31, 1834-35, 1849-50, 1866-67, 1872-3, and 
1892-93, in considerable numbers. As might be expected in the 
case of an inhabitant of the Arctic regions, the visits of the Waxwing 
have been more frequent to the northern and eastern portions of 
Great Britain than the western side; and although they have 
reached Argyll and Skye, they have not extended to the Outer 
Hebrides, while occurrences in the Orkneys and Shetlands have been 
rare. In Ireland, also, they have been few and far between. In 
England the Waxwing has been obtained in almost every county, 
including the south and the extreme south-west ; and, on the spring 
migration, in Norfolk up to the first week in May. Its visits depend 
on the severity of the weather on the Continent, but it does not 
follow that the same winter should be rigorous in the British Islands. 
The wanderings of the Waxwing are not known to extend in a 
south-westerly direction as far as the Pyrenees or the Spanish 
Peninsula ; but from Provence, in the south-east of France, they 
