280 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 24 



have a somewhat streaked appearance, though not as much so as in 

 the young cedar waxwing, the whole body is of a duller, darker gray 

 than in the adult, and the young bird has none of the vinous coloring 

 about the head that is seen in the adult. The crest is present but only 

 slightly developed. The young has a dull black line from the nostril 

 to the eye and posteriorly on the head, in resemblance to that on the 

 adult, but in our specimens of young there is just an indication of the 

 black throat. This may be due to the fact that in these birds the 

 feathers of chin and upper throat are but partly developed, but ap- 

 pearances would indicate that in the fully acquired juvenal plumage 

 the throat is whitish, bordered on each side by a line of dull black. 

 The middle of the belly is whitish, the under tail coverts a paler and 

 duller chestnut than in the adult. One feature in which the young 

 waxwings differ notably from the adults is the color of the inside of 

 the mouth. This was a bright reddish (spinel pink of Ridgway) with 

 a short, sharply defined streak of Mathews purple on each side, at the 

 corner of the mouth. In adults the inside of the mouth is flesh color 

 with but a suggestion of bluish at either side on the roof of the mouth. 

 In the young birds the iris is dark. In adults there is a narrow but 

 distinct red ring surrounding the black pupil. 



Although the fact that the young Bohemian waxwing possesses 

 practically all the distinctive markings of the most highly developed 

 adult was a surprise to the writer when the birds were first encoun- 

 tered in the field, it is not new in ornithological literature. There 

 have been a few juvenals collected, but although their appearance has 

 been commented upon at the time of capture, apparently the compilers 

 of the more general handbooks have never cited these scanty speci- 

 mens as representative of the usual condition. Casual mention of an 

 early streaked stage, "similar to that of the cedar bird," is the infor- 

 mation usually given. WoUey's description of a young bird, in his 

 account of the first discovery of the nesting of the European sub- 

 species, is as follows: 



A young bird caught on the 5th of August, as it fluttered from the nest, had 

 a general resemblance to the adult, though all the colours were more dull. The 

 wax-like ends to the wing-feathers, the yellow tip to the tail, the black patch 

 between the eye and the beak are all there, whilst the rich mahogany of the 

 under tail-coverts is of a quieter brown; the blooming vinous colour of the head 

 and back has not yet emerged from a homely neutral, and the crest is but just 

 indicated by the longish feathers of the crown. The most marked difference 

 between the adult and young is in the throat and under surface generally. 

 There is at present scarcely a trace of the deep black patch of the chin, and the 

 delicate tint of the general under surface of the adult is replaced by mottled 



