ZOOLOGY. 67 



by Major Wedderbum, in the winter months of 1848. In 

 December, 1849, I fell in with a large flock of these birds 

 in Paget parisL There was an appearance of wildness and 

 vigour about them, which convinced me they were strangers. 

 A small party of eight or ten birds of a different species 

 was observed ia the midst of these blue birds, inoving with 

 the flock from place to place. I contrived to get withia 

 range of the small party, and brought down one specimen, 

 which proved to be a cedar waxwiag (Bomh/cilla Caroli- 

 nends), in beautiful plumage, but wanting the waxen ap- 

 pendages to the secondaries. It was, consequently, a young 

 bird of that year. Now, the cedar waxwing is a rare visitant 

 in the Bermudas, and is never known to breed there. These 

 cedar birds, then, must have arrived recently in those islands, 

 and in all probability had traversed the ocean in company 

 with the flock of blue birds they were associating with. 



There is reason to believe that numbers of the native 

 blue birds leave the Bermudas with these large migratory 

 flocks, thereby causing, as in the summer of 1851, a com- 

 parative scarcity of that bird : indeed, but for this supposed 

 movement, it would be difficult to account for the annual 

 increase of the native birds. 



Yellow-bellied Woodpecker {Picus varius). There can 

 be no doubt of the migratory habits of this species of wood- 

 pecker. In the Bermudas it is a rare and solitary bird, 

 seldom seen except in the winter months. In the early 

 part of April, 1850, as observed by Major Wedderbum, a 

 number of these birds appeared ia aU parts of those islands. 

 I examined six specimens obtained on that occasion, which 

 were all very fat, notwithstanding the distance they must 

 have travelled. They were all in female plumage, i.e., they 



