628 
BIRD-LIFE. 
the reverse of complimentary, for they frequently call this 
pretty, innocent creature by such terms as “Pest” or 
“ Death-bird,” * as though its arrival betokened famine 
and misery! They say that the Waxwing only favours 
us with a visit every seven years, and that war, pestilence 
and famine are inseparable from these visits! Why 
this ? asks the reader. Simply because the Waxwing is 
not so common as the Sparrow or the Rook! The 
naturalist, however, has little faith in either nursery 
tales or the marvellous, but, on the contrary, strives to 
the utmost of his power to interpret and explain the 
workings of that masterly and harmonious marvel—• 
Nature. Thus the arrival of this bird has never appeared 
a mystery in our eyes, for we have long been acquainted 
with, and are fully able to account for, the irregularity 
of its habits: by this we have lost nothing, but rather 
gained. 
To begin with, we look upon this lovely creature as far too 
beautiful to be the harbinger of evil. Its exquisitely soft, 
silky, reddish gray plumage; the gray, black-and-yellow 
barred tail; its dark wings, with their white, yellow, and 
scarlet feathers; the black throat and high crest, dis¬ 
tinguish it from every other European bird, and win for 
it the admiration of all who see it, without their finding 
fault with its mode of migration. We have, however, 
observed the latter, or rather become acquainted with the 
causes that regulate it, and thus have robbed the Wax¬ 
wing of all that has hitherto been looked upon as 
marvellous concerning it. 
The reason why the Waxwing does not visit us 
regularly every year is, that it is not always under the 
necessity of so doing. It inhabits the most northern 
* “ Pest” and “ Sterbevogel,” German names.— W. J. 
