466 
PERCHING BIRDS. 
which came close round me, and both of which I shot. I then sat down and imitated 
as well as I could the call of the old birds. I was soon rewarded for my trouble by 
a young one coming out of a blueberry bush, close by, and calling lustily. I then 
climbed up again and took the nest away carefully, so as to preserve the shape, 
and to my great delight found one egg in it. We hunted for several hours in the 
higher part of the island for another nest, but, although we saw about nine old 
birds, we didn’t succeed in finding another nest.” The eggs of the waxwing are 
pale blue, marked with purplish underlying shell-markings and black overlying 
surface-spots. In certain winters large numbers of wax wings cross the North Sea 
to winter in the British Isles, where, unfortunately, their pretty plumage and 
strange appearance mark them as a certain prey of the loafing gunner. In its 
habits the waxwing is confiding and tame, though much less so in the spring and 
A FLOCK OF WAXWINGS. 
summer than in the winter. “ At the latter season of the year,” writes Mr. Dresser, 
“ I used to see large flocks in Southern Finland, usually frequenting the mountain- 
ash trees, and very often seen in the gardens quite in the centre of the towns. So 
tame are they that, when fired at, and one or two killed, the remainder will only fly 
to a short distance, and soon return to the same tree again. The flocks are often 
very large; and I have known of more than twenty specimens having been killed 
at one shot; I once killed as many as fourteen at a shot off* a large mountain-ash 
tree, on which a flock was perched picking off the berries. It is a peculiarly 
silent bird ; and I watched a flock for some time without hearing any of them 
uttering a sound. The only note I have heard is a low plaintive whistle, from 
which, I imagine, it is called by the Finns by the name of tilhi, as this gives some 
idea of the sound of its call-note. When frightened, or suddenly disturbed, the same 
