The Bohemian Waxwing (Bombydlla garmla) 



By W. Leon Dawson 



Description. — Adults: A conspicuous cTest; body plumage soft, grayish-brown 

 or fawn-color, shading by insensible degrees between the several parts ; back 

 darker, passing into bright cinnamon-rufous on forehead and crown, and through 

 dark ash of rump and upper tail-coverts into black of tail; tips of tail feathers 

 abruptly yellow (gamboge) ; breast with a vinaceous cast, passing into cinnamon- 

 rufous of cheeks ; a narrow frontal line passing through eye, and a short throat- 

 patch velvety black ; under tail-coverts d-eep cinnamon ; wings blackish-ash, the 

 tips of the primary coverts and the tips of the secondaries on outer webs, white ; 

 tips of primaries on outer webs bright yellow, whitening outwardly; the shafts 

 of the rectrices produced into peculiar flattened red "sealing-wax" tips ; bill and 

 feet black. Length about 8.00 (203.2); wing 4.61 (117.1); tail 2.56 (65.); 

 bill .47 (11.9). 



Recognition Marks. — Chewink size; grayish-brown coloration. As dis- 

 tinguished from the much more common Cedar-bird : belly not yellow ; white 

 wing-bars; under tail-coverts cinnamon. 



General Range. — Northern portions of northern hemisphere. In North 

 America, south in winter irregularly to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, 

 southern Colorado and northern California. Breeds north of United States ; 

 also possibly in the mountains of the West. 



Perhaps we shall never know just why these gentle Hyperboreans spend their 

 winters now in New England, now in Wisconsin, now in Washington, or through- 

 out the northern tier of states at once. Their southward movement is doubtless 

 dictated by hunger, and the particular direction may be determined in part at least 

 by the prevailing winds. Years have passed since any have been seen in Ohio, 

 but they are likely to reappear any winter. Usually they appear in flocks of 

 several hundred individuals, and it is asserted on what seems to be good au- 

 thority, that millions were once seen on the Powder river in Wyoming in flocks 

 rivalling in extent those of the wild pigeons. 



The Northern Waxwing is a bird of unrivalled beauty, even surpassing that 

 of the Cedarbird, which it closely resembles in appearance and habits. When 

 with us it feeds by preference upon the berries of the mountain ash and the red 

 cedar, and more rarely upon persimmons. Its life history is as yet imperfectly 

 known, although it has been found breeding near the Yukon and Anderson rivers. 

 It has even been surmised to breed irregularly in the mountains of the United 

 States. 



If we were to accuse any bird of wearing a tailor-made gown, it would be 

 this trim, dainty waxwing. The modest, unruffled beauty of the plumage makes 

 it a general favorite. Can you imagine a softer or prettier combination of 

 browns? How tastefully its sober tones are picked out here and there by 

 brilHant bits of color! The scarlet tips of the wing feathers, the yellow edging 



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