BOHEMIAN WAXWING. 
75 
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 inspection, 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 interesting 
memoir lately published on the birds of Geneva, w 7 e 
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 dis- 
persed over a great portion of western Europe, and were 
seen near Edinburgh in the first days of that year. 
What extent of country they inhabit or frequent in 
this continent, and whether numerous or not, we are 
unable to state. The specimen here described was 
obtained, together with others, from the northwestern 
range of the Rocky Mountains, and the species appears 
to spread w idely, as we have been credibly informed 
by hunters that “ cedar birds of a large kind” have been 
shot a little beyond the Mississippi, at a very great 
distance from the spot where ours w ere obtained. Thus 
does this species extend its range round the whole 
earth, from the coasts of Europe eastwardly to the 
Rocky Mountains in America, and we are at a loss to 
conceive why it should never have been observed on 
this side of the Mississippi. 
Very little is known of the peculiar habits of these 
elegant birds. They assemble in large flocks, and feed 
on different kinds of juicy berries, or on insects, which 
during summer constitute their principal food. In 
common w ith many other birds, they are fond of the 
berries of the mountain ash and phytolacca,are extremely 
greedy of grapes, and also, though in a less degree, of 
juniper and laurel berries, apples, currants, figs, and 
other fruits. They drink often, dipping in their bill 
repeatedly. Besides their social disposition, and general 
love of their species, these birds appear susceptible of 
individual attachment, as if they felt a particular 
sentiment of benevolence, even independent of reciprocal 
