Volume 24, Plate XI / Ornithology (Birds)

Bohemian Waxwing

Bombycilla garrula

The Bohemian Waxwing is a beautiful but uncertain straggler to Britain, appearing in flocks of varying number and feeding on winter berries, especially holly, with some insects taken on the wing, though its breeding places remain unknown. Its loose soft plumage is purplish red with an erectile crest, black throat and eye stripe, smoke grey rump, and wings marked with yellow and white, brilliant scarlet flattened appendages tipping the secondaries in adults.