74 
BOM BYCILL A GARRULA. 
tolerably regular ; very numerous flocks generally f 
through Scania in November, and are again seen 
t.hAlV refill'd in "D a a/U ° 
their return in the spring. But they appear only* 
very remote and irregular periods, and merely as 
sional and rare visitants in western, southern, or «'[ 
central and northern Europe, and then only in ?( 
coldest months of the most severe winters. Not'*' 1 ! 
standing that they at times invade peculiar district 
vast numbers, so remarkable is the appearance of t^ 
winged strangers then considered, that we fiud it pi*** 
upon record. However extraordinary it may seei* 11 
those who live in this enlightened age and cou* |,f 
that the unusual appearance of “ cedar birds of a I' 11 ] 
kind” should strike terror into the souls of men, s" 1 
notwithstanding, was the effect in more ignorant 
They have been looked upon as the precursors of 
pestilence, and other public calamities. One of 
irruptions was experienced in Italy in 1571, when il^ 
ot hundreds were seen flying about in the north of 1 , 
country in the month of December, and were <'»•" 
caught. A similar visit had taken place in 1580 ’ 
February, marking the epoch when Charles V. c»^ 
himself to be crowned at Bologna. Aldrovandi, w 
whom we learn the above particulars, also infortH*! 
that large flocks of them appeared in 1551, when it , 
remarked, that, though they spread in numbers 
T ll A l T i v #4 1 1 rt tl . .. T1 1 * J * * . VIA I 
the Modenese, the Plaisantine, and other parts of 
f.rlt'tr PUVoflllltr ATTAlrl A/1 ATli am!.. J 1 n If 
if' 
they carefully avoided entering the Ferrarese as <■ 
escape the dreadful earthquake that was felt soon 
causing the very birds to turn their flight. In I 5 ' 
o. * r w nifir iiitrjir. in 
Oesner informs us, they appeared along the Rhine, , 
Mentzjn Germany, in such numbers as to obscure 
sun. 
mi , S ' “ uuiUWWJj LU UUSCUt' J 
Iiey have, however, of late years, in Italy K 
i II V nn/l m J .. . i 
n * , . 7 - ■ miv years, in naiy j 
Germany, and m France especially, at all times, l "' 
extremely rare, being seen only in small compani** . 
singly, appearing as if they had strayed from their p 
In England, the Bohemian waxwing has always K 
a rare visitant, coming only at long and uiU'<' r! / 
■ 6 only it i mug ana unwj 
intervals. In the winter of 1810 large flocks " , 
dispersed through various parts of that kingdom, ^ 
