needed in our time any additional refutation, the discovery of this
bird in the., north-western, territory near the Rocky Mountains.,
would afford it;.. By appearing in its full size and perfection,
exactly similar to the European individuals of its species, it wpuld
vindicate-its smaller relation, the common .and familiar Cgdar-hird
from the reprbach of degeneracy. But with the more enlightened
opinions that now prevail, its,, occurrence in that unexplored
portion of the globe,is important chiefly as tending to solve the
problem of the placé of abode o f’this mysterious wanderer, especially
as, by a singular coincidence, whilst we were proclaiming
this species as American-it was received by Tenjminek from
Japan, together with a new species, the third known of the genus,
which hejjdias caused to be figured and distinguished by the
appropriate name of Bombycilla phoenicoptera, Boiè. Besides the
red band across the wing, whence its name is derived, thé length
of its' crest adorned, with black feathers, and the uniform absence
i® all states, of. tl»é' cprpeous appendages of the wings, this new
species, resembling more in size and shape the Carolina Wax-wing
(Cedar-bird) than the present; is eminently distinguished from
both by Wanting the’ small, closely set feathers covering the
nostrils, hitherto assigned as one of the characters of the genus.
This example evinces the insufficiency of that character, though
Illiger considered it of such importance as to induce him to unite
in his great genus Cormsi (comprehending this as well' as several
other distinct groups), all the species possessing it.- It shows
especially hpw erroneous it is to form two separate families for
the allied genera with covered or naked nostrils, In fact, the
genus as it now stands, ia, not the less for this aberration, an
exceedingly natural one, though the two species that are now
known to inhabit*America are "still more allied to each other
than either of them to the Japanese, the present (Bohemian)
differing chiefly by its larger size, mahogany-brown tail-coverts,
BOHEMIAN WAX-WING. 9*
and,’.cinereous belly, the fjrst being white, and the second yellowish
in the Qedar;bi|^whicb'also wants the' yellow,;and white markings
pn the, wing.,.' Of the three .spbcieg^AK comprehended/in the
genus, one is peculiar tdM^rnerica, a)second tojdastern Asia, and
the present common to all the ArcticWorld.
This, small but natural grbupd at one- tifitC, placed-' by Liniie in
the carnivorous genus. LmiuS, notwithstanding i^^^ ^Mivte’ly
frugivorous t habits, was "'finally r e s tp r^ ^ tf^ h i ui to K/lmpe/is, „im
which he was followed* by. Latham. Bll^spn''placed It? in Turdus,
an^ymig^f in Gprous.- Ornithologists4'noVieppouf in reg a rd in g ^
as; a- genus, disagreeing .only as to the name, some calling it
Bombyciphora, others B'ambycvpbra, .though they, all appear tb' have
lately united in favour of the more elegant, and prior'.termination
bji Bombycilla.
Wax-wings, which we .place nr our family Sericati,.having
no, other representative in Europe or North America,' are 'easily
^cognised by their, short, turgid bill, trigonal at hasp,--somewhat
compressed and curved at tip; where both mandibles are -strongly
n o tc h e d th e ir short feet, anti rather long, subaoiite wings. JBut
their most carious trait- dohs|4s irLthp-small, flat, oblong appendages,
resembling in colour .and? substaneC red sealing-yhx^fphhd
afsthe tips of the secondaries ipi the adult. Thesefappendages
are merely the coloured corneous prolongation' of th e ; shafts
beypnd the webs of thg f e a th e rsƒ*.'The' new species' from Japan
i|V as we have mentioned, at all timfes1 without them, as well
aS* the young o.jf"%e two others. The. plumage, of all is..,of a
remarkably fine, and silky ^toxture, lying extremely- dlpse’^ and
they are all largely' and' p ointedl^^^Sjba, the sexes' hardly
differing in this respect.-
»»The Wax-wings ljve in numerous flocks,^keeping by pairs only
in the breeding season, and so - social* is their disposition, that as
soon -as the-young are abldto fly, they collect in large,bands from