Vrl XX / fc- MS/i-W-M 
A PRESUMABLY NEW FACT REI^TIVE TO THE CEDAR 
WAXWING (. AMPELIS CEDROiUM), WITH REMARKS 
UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF A THOROUGH KNOWL- 
EDGE OF FIRST PLUMAGES. 
BY EDWIN M. HASBROTJCK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
It is considered by every one that the individual wax wing pos- 
sessing wax tips on both secondaries and rectrices is in the highest 
development of plumage, while a high development of plumage 
In any species whatever is usually accorded to the older birds. 
Coues states that, “ Specimens apparently mature and full- 
feathered frequently lack the wax-tips”; that “their normal 
appearance is unknown,” and that “ birds in the earliest known 
plumage may possess one or more.” Beyond this little appears 
to be known. 
In a somewhat extensive series of waxwings in the National 
Museum, in my own and other collections, appendages on the 
wings were developed in forty-five, fifteen displayed the orna- 
ments onjboth wings and tail, while the remainder, apparently 
adult birds, were entirely unadorned. (It might be well to state 
that the females as well as the males possess these tips, although 
less frequently, while some specimens examined showed the or- 
naments on both wings and tail.) Now, the natural conclusion 
from this would be that those birds possessing wing-tips only 
were older than those having none at all, while the fifteen on 
which both wings and tail were adorned were even older and 
were in the highest perfection of plumage. This is disproved by 
the fact that four birds of the year still in the striated plumage, 
taken in August, September, and October, respectively, display 
very distinct tips on the secondaries; and if on the secondaries 
at this early age when older birds possess none at all, why should 
they not also appear on* the tail-feathers? The supposition of 
older birds only being adorned being disposed of, the question 
arises, When do these horny appendages appear ? and on this I 
am able to throw considerable light. 
It was in the summer of 1884 that I was spending a month at 
Port Byron, N. Y., when I ran across a nest of the wax wing, con- 
taining four young, every one of which had the wax tips on tail 
and wings perfectly developed. These birds were nearly fledged, 
although unable to fly, and I had good opportunity to observe 
them. Not being interested in collecting birds at that time they 
were not preserved, a circumstance to be regretted, but the full 
import of these appendages being developed in nestlings was ap- 
preciated. 
The following table for the calendar year shows the conditions 
of specimens examined. So regularly and so nearly is it com- 
pletely tilled that it is evident that an examination of a larger 
series would undoubtedly fill the gaps.' 
Month. 
Wings. 
Both. 
Jan. 
5 
Feb. 
$ 
6 
Mar. 
$ ? 
Apr. 
s ? 
$ 
May 
6 ? 
$ 
June 
? 
? 
July 
$ 
S 
Aug. 
$ 5 $ im 
s 
Sept. 
S S im 
Oct. 
? (Jim 
Nov. 
$ 
Dec. 
$ 
None. 
i ? 
4 ? 
? 
4 
4 ? 
4 ? 
4 
4 ? 
4 ? 
? 
4 ? 
4 
With this evidence it is apparent that these handsome ornaments 
are by no means a sign of age, but are, on the contrary, a purely 
individual development, appearing sometimes in tlieir highest 
perfection in the nestling, while in an adult they may be entirely 
absent or barely beginning to appear; or again, appearing a few 
months after attaining first plumage, to go through a regular 
course of growth and development. Inasmuch as an individual 
with wax on both tail and wings is exceedingly rare, and the 
August and September birds are just beginning to acquire the 
tips it would be interesting to know just how often this develop- 
ment in the nest occurs, and this is published mainly with the 
hope of eliciting further information on the subject, and of 
prompting those in the field to be on the watch the comingr 
season. 
The importance of thus studying the first plumages cannot be 
too highly estimated, for not until comparatively recent years 
has a careful and thorough study of the life-history of each and 
1 In this table an attempt has been made to show merely that both sexes 
are adorned for each month in the respective columns. In a number of in- 
stances several individuals were found for each. 
every one of our birds been deemed of any great importance bv 
ornithologists. Of late, owing to the discovery of numerous 
errors that had crept into our nomenclature, careful attention has 
been paid to a species from the time of its advent into the world 
to a period when beyond all doubt it has reached its maturity. 
To the collector who accumulates a series, it is only too apparent 
how great is the difference between individuals, and that his 
series is not complete until each and every phase of plumage 
from various widely separated localities is represented. 
Late in the season, while the full migration is at its height, a 
bird is secured which for the life of him he cannot name; in vain 
| he searches the literature, compares specimens, and puzzles and 
worries only to find it at last an old acquaintance flitting under 
new colors. I have in mind a young man who, although not an 
accomplished ornithologist, ought to have known better, and 
who essayed to publish a list of the birds of the locality in which 
he lived. One winter he secured a bird entirely unknown to him, 
and in his dilemma sent it to the Smithsonian for identification ; 
| on its return the label bore: “American Goldfinch in winter 
plumage.” This may be a little foreign to the subject but it 
! shows how necessary was a thorough knowledge of the life-bistory 
1 of the species. Nor was it so very long ago that the “Gray 
Eagle,” which for years was accorded specific rank, was found 
to be but an immature phase of Haliceetus leucocephalus, while 
I Oidemia perspioillata trowbridgii was shown to be but a seasonal 
variation of perspioillata proper. Even to this day it appears not 
to be generally known that the Golden Eagle takes from three to 
five years to acquire its full plumage; that the Bald Eagle attains 
his highest plumage at the age of three, the various inteimediate 
I stages being known as the Black Eagle, Gray Eagle, etc., and 
that the Little Blue Heron is pure white the first year, mottled 
and variegated with blue in every conceivable manner the second, 
and attains the perfection of its plumage only at the age of three; 
' yet such are the facts. These are but isolated cases, while any 
day may bring about the unification of some two forms which 
at present are considered at least sub-specifically distinct. 
H5 
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