94 
Mr. A. Newton on Mr. J. Wolley’s Discovery 
pairs of living birds, in the hope of inducing them to breed in 
confinement. One enthusiastic egg-collector, Baron It. von 
Konig-Warthausen, we are told, even went to the trouble of 
caging a whole flock*. It is true that here and there an oolo- 
gist might be found, with whom the “ wish was father to the 
thought,” and who accordingly deluded himself into the belief 
that in some unusually large specimen of the egg of the allied 
species [Ampelis cedrorum) } or in some queerly-coloured mon¬ 
strosity of a bird perhaps not at all connected, he recognized a 
genuine production of Ampelis garrulus; but such instances 
were certainly exceptional, and there can be little doubt that, 
prior to 1856, no one with any pretension to the title of natu¬ 
ralist had ever set eyes on a real egg or nest of the Waxwing, 
and that this privilege was reserved for one who of all men 
eminently merited it. It is due, however, to Scandinavian na¬ 
turalists to say, that several of them who had travelled in Lap- 
land had expressed themselves confident that the bird did some¬ 
times breed in that country; and though the reports of its 
nesting, which some of them brought home, have been shown 
by Mr. Wolley’s discovery to have been probably incorrect,f yet 
it was, I think, reliance on the general fidelity of those gentle¬ 
men in matters of this kind which kept alive my friend’s hopes 
of one day finding the long-sought treasure; but hopes they 
were of a kind so remote, that when they were fulfilled he was 
justified in speaking of the discovery as “ unexpected.” 
The first intimation I received from Mr. Wolley that the dis¬ 
covery was accomplished was contained in a letter written by 
him on his way up the Baltic, and dated 2nd Sept. 1856. He 
says, “ Let me tell you now, w r hilst I think of it, that I have 
some reason for believing that the Waxwing makes its nest in 
good-sized fir-trees in the month of June. I give you this hint 
in case I should not live to give you more certain information; 
* Dr. E. Baldamus in e Naumannia,’ 1858, p. 131. 
f Compare J. W.Zetterstedt, Resa gen. Sw. och Norr. Lappm. i. p.272. 
‘Tidskrift for Jagare/ W. von Wright, p. 289; C. U. Ekstrom, p. 796 ; 
G. A. Bergenstrale and J. Holmstedt, p. 726; A. Wigart, p. 1087. L. Lloyd, 
Scand. Advent, ii. p. 312. H. D. J. Wallengren, in ‘Naumannia/ 1854, 
p. 123. S. Nilsson, Skand. Faun. Foglarna, ed. 3. i. p. 242. 
