4 BRITISH BIRDS. 



been obtained there. I have seen it in its breeding- season in the valleys 

 of the Petchora and the Yenesay ; and Middendorfi met with it during 

 winter on the shores of the Sea of Ochotsk. Mr. Dall states that its eggs 

 have been obtained near Fort Yukon in Alaska ; and it has been found 

 during the breeding-season in the valley of the Anderson River^ north of 

 the Great Bear Lake. It possibly may not breed further east in America ; 

 but very little is known of the arctic regions of either continent, and the 

 Waxwing is so erratic in its habits, breeding in enormous numbers in a 

 certain district for some seasons and then almost deserting it for several 

 years, that it may easily have been overlooked. 



The Waxwing is as erratic in its choice of winter- quarters. It is a 

 very irregular migrant, wandering southwards on the approach of cold 

 weather, and revisiting the north whenever a thaw of suflScient length 

 occurs. Throughout Central Europe it is a tolerably regular winter visitor. 

 It occurs accidentally on Heligoland, and occasionally strays as far west 

 as France and as far south as Lombardy and Turkey, but has not yet been 

 recorded from Spain or Greece. It winters in South Siberia, occasionally 

 straying as far as Turkestan, Mongolia, North China, and the north 

 island of Japan. In America its winter range extends as far south as 

 Lakes Michigan and Erie ; but it appears to be only an accidental straggler 

 further east, and it is doubtful if it has ever occurred west of the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



One of the nearest allies of the Waxwing is the Japanese Waxwing 

 {A. phoenicoptera), which breeds in Japan and wanders in winter to the valley 

 of the Lower Amoor and North China, and occasionally to Formosa. This 

 species may be easily distinguished from its arctic ally by having the 

 yellow at the tip of the tail replaced by red, and by having no " wax " 

 tips to the secondaries, the white tips on their outside webs being replaced 

 by red. A still nearer ally is the American Waxwing or Cedar-bird, 

 A. cedrorum, which is said to inhabit the whole of North America as far 

 north as lat. 52°, extending southwards to Guatemala, Jamaica, and Cuba 

 in winter. This bird is somewhat less than the northern species, and like 

 it has the " wax " tips to the secondaries and the yellow tips to the tail, 

 but is without the white on the wing. The Cedar-bird has been erroneously 

 included in the British list, in several cases skins of this species having 

 been substituted by dishonest bird-stuflfers for specimens of the Waxwing 

 shot in this country. 



T was fortunate enough to meet with a small party of Waxwings as 

 I was -ivalking down the Glossop Road to business into Sheflaeld on 

 the morning of the 29th of December, 1866. My attention was arrested 

 by three or four birds which ilew across the road and alighted in a 

 laburnum tree in Miss Ray's garden. I imagined from their flight that 

 they must be StarHngs ; but fancying that they showed white marks on the 



