86 THE WAXWING. 



and two out of the five winters in Lapland, 

 studying the habits of birds, and trying to obtain 

 the eggs, previously unknown, of this species; but 

 so erratic is the Waxwing' in its choice of a 

 breeding-liome, that it was not until his fourth 

 summer that he succeeded in obtaining the prize. 

 In 1856 and 1857 a few nests were got for 

 him by his collectors, who procured nearly seven 

 hundred eggs in 1858. Wolley died in 1859, at 

 the early age of thirty-five, leaving behind him an 

 immortal record in the annals of European 

 ornithology, for his name is connected not only 

 with the discovery of the nesting of the Wax- 

 wing, but with that of several other European 

 birds, unknown before his day. 



His account of the discovery of the Waxwing's 

 nest has often been quoted, but it is such a true 

 picture of ornithological enthusiasm and its 

 reward, that I make no apology for reproducing 

 it. Wolley had provided his servant, Ludwig, 

 with a coloured picture of the Sidensvans, with 

 instructions to find the nest, if possible, and 

 when Ludwig saw the bird at last, he gathered 

 together a number of Russian boys to search 

 for the nest, which one of them at last discovered 



