5 akes a cood-sized and substantial nest, but
i | 1in Lapland » cays Mr. Woolley, “ makes a good sized and substanti: 2
‘The Wax-wing, as observe ZEA : RN , i 2 -
oes. : | lart. It is of some depth, and regularly shaped, though built of rather
a . Seat ) ae 2p art. s ‘ 4 S : a *s
- much indication of advanced ¢ ee oe ce te |
without ; As in those of many other birds in the Arctic forests, the main substance is of the
As in é
-. which hangs so abund
valled tree-hair, which hangs /
< ite rootlets, or perhaps may be compared to coarse brown
ts,

little of this mixed with the ordinary brown or

intractable materials.
kind of lichen commonly
This lichen somewhat resembles a mass of delicé
is whitish, and in one nest there is a
nest 1s strengthened below by :
yr less amount of flowering stalks of grass, and occasionally pieces of

antly from the branches of almost every tree.

oe ee f tl a platform of dead twigs, and higher up
black. This main substance of the
ards the interior by a greater ¢ a oS

ae It is al ; t ee. d with a little rein-deer-lichen, perhaps a sprig or two of green moss, and
equisetum. t 1s also infersperse é ay ee ae

ne pieces of willow cotton There may also be observed a little of the very fine silvery-looking fibre
even some 2Ce j ° os j ce : : :
have been reduced to that condition by long soaking in water. In one of the
s of small birds as an apology for a lining.

= yy
in one nest only there were as many as SIX. They have

of grass-leaves, which probably
nests examined, there were several pen-feather
: se aes

« Five seems to be the ordinary number oF eggs ; |
which are distributed pretty equally good-sized purple spots, some

a pale salmon-coloured ground, upop ; Ce
oF but nearly all of them having a shade or penumbra, such as ts

: ya ass deep colour
with more and some with less deep ) ee ene
secially in eggs of the Chaffinch.” I should be wanting in courtesy, were I not to acknowledge
common especie ges es ee - Me Walle
that I am indebted to Mr. Afred Newton for a fine set of five eggs of this bird, taken by Mr. W olley.

C C L e ; ae

‘Myself and two Finnish centlemen,” says Mr. Dresser, “ arrived at Sanden, a small island out at

LYS d J i D 7

sea, about forty versts from Uleaborg, about tw
thing im the natural-history way to be got there, but were so plagued with mos-

o in the morning, and as soon as we bad moored the boat,

set off to see if there was any
quitoes that we returned to the boat to s em
; I therefore shot it, and on examination my conjecture proved to be

leep for atime. Just before reaching the boat, I saw a bird ina
fir-tree which appeared like a Wax-wing oo
correct ; it was a hen bird, and appeared to have been sitting. After sleeping os an oe or EO, WI ie
ceeded to the middle of the island, and dispersed in search of the nest, without for some time meeting with
success. At length, following in the track of one of my friends, and seeing him waiting for me oe Ce
I went towards him; and on approaching the tree, I saw, at about nine feet from the ground, a nest vue four
young birds sitting bolt upright init. I scrambled up the tree; but just as I put up ney hand, the birds flew
out. I jumped down immediately, and secured the largest. Upon being handled, it cried out pretty loudly,
when a flock of nine old birds issued from a clump of fir-trees, two of which came quite close and called
incessantly. Believing that they were the parents of my little captive, I shot them both. I then remained
still, and tried to imitate the cries of the old birds, in which I succeeded so well that a young bird came out
of a clump of heather and began chirping most lustily. This I caught, and then secured the nest, which
was firmly fixed between the bole and the lowest branch of the tree; it was carelessly made of dried sticks
and moss, and had a rotten egg still remaining within it. This was on the 4th of July, 1858. A few days
later I observed one or two old birds near Uleaborg town. Professor Nordmann informed me that the Wax-
wing has also been seen near Abo, and was supposed to have bred there. Magnus von U’right also shot a
young bird, while flying about with two others in the month of August 1855 or 1856, near Knopio ; it is now
in the Museum at Helsingfors.”

In a letter received from Professor Rasch of Christiania, in September 1858, that gentlemen says, ‘“ Mr.
Barth has this summer found Ampetis garrulus breeding in Gulbransdalen,” just to the north of Jerkin.

I observe that specimens killed in North America and Japan are somewhat smaller than those obtained
in Europe, but do not differ in colour or markings; and the trifling variation in size is not, in my opinion,
of sufficient importance to warrant their bemg regarded as more than races of the same species. In some
instances the white tippings of the primaries are absent, having been worn off or not yet assumed.

The food of the Wax-wing is of a mixed character; for doubtless in summer it mainly subsists on insects,
while in winter it feeds upon berries of various kinds, particularly those of the hawthorn, the mountain
ash, the holly, and the ivy; and, from the numbers of this bird which occasionally visit this country and
Central Europe, sometimes in flocks of twenties, fifties, or hundreds, the supply will scarcely be equal to the
demand. I have heard that in Germany and other parts of the Continent it is frequently killed for the pur-
pose of the table: Heaven save us from doing this in England! Return, fairy bird, to the land of thy birth;
thou hast run a gauntlet dangerous to thy safety while here.

The Plate represents a male, a female, a nest, and five young birds, all of the natural size.