BOHEMIAN WAX WING. 
461 
souls of men, such, notwithstanding, was the effect in more 
ignorant times. They have been looked upon as the precur- 
sors of war, pestilence, and other public calamities. One of 
their irruptions was experienced in Italy in 1571, when flocks 
of hundreds were seen flying about in the north of that coun- 
try in the month of December, and were easily caught. A 
similar visit had taken place in 1530 in February, marking the 
epoch when Charles V. caused himself to be crowned at Bo- 
logna. Aldrovandi, from whom we learn the above particu- 
lars, also informs us that large flocks of them appeared in 1551, 
when it was remarked, that, though they spread in numbers 
through the Modenese, the Plaisantine, and other parts of 
Italy, they carefully avoided entering the Ferrarese, as if to 
escape the dreadful earthquake that was felt soon after, causing 
the very birds to turn their flight. In 1552, Gesner informs 
us, they appeared along the Rhine, near Mentz in Germany, 
in such numbers as to obscure the sun. They have, however, 
of late years, in Italy and Germany, and in France especially, 
at all times, been extremely rare, being seen only in small 
companies or singly, appearing as if they had strayed from 
their way. In England, the Bohemian waxwing has always 
been a rare visitant, coming only at long and uncertain inter- 
vals. In the winter of 1810 large flocks were dispersed 
through various parts of that kingdom, from which period we 
do not find it recorded by English writers till the month of 
February, 1822, when a few came under Mr Selby’s inspec- 
tion, and several were again observed during the severe storm 
in the winter of 1823. Upon the Continent, its returns are 
subject to similar uncertainty. In M. Necker’s very interest- 
ing memoir lately published on the birds of Geneva, we read, 
that from the beginning of this century only two considerable 
flights have been observed in that canton, one in January, 
1807, and the other in January, 1814, when they were very 
numerous, and spent the winter there, all departing in March. 
In 1807 they were dispersed over a great portion of western 
