Waxwing

“ Indeed, so high-pitched is this extraordinary note that many people, and they trained bird-men, cannot hear them at all, even when the Waxwings are squeaking all about them. It is an almost uncanny spectacle, that of a company of Waxwings sitting aloft in some leafless tree early in spring, erect, immovable, like soldiers on parade, but complaining to each other in that faint, penetrating monotone. ”

“ Bombycilla japonica thus may be close to the ancestral condition in the waxwing stock in the development of the waxy appendage.
The rectrices of all three species of waxwings seldom possess the wax tips, unless the secondaries have the maximum number of tips. In these individuals, the pigment seems to "spill over" onto the tail feathers. Eight is the maximum number of tips found on the secondaries. Rectrices with wax tips are more frequently found in B. garrula, and only occasionally in B. cedrorum. ”

“ The nest contained five eggs, two of which he looted. My friend said he thought they were "rather handsome Blackcaps"! The same gentleman found two other nests in the locality containing young birds, which he believes to have also been Marsh-Warblers' nests. I refrain from giving the exact locality of this rare bird's breeding haunt, in order that it may not be exterminated by ruthless persecution.—Charles B. Horsbrugh (Martock, Somersetshire) .
Waxwing at Scarborough.—On Nov. 23rd I saw a Waxwing (Ampelis garrulus) feeding on the haws of a thorn-hedge near Oliver's Mount, Scarborough. ”

“ It is pathetic to hear him chirp at his own image in the mirror, and for some time he has been tearing paper in his cage and trying to make string or paper stay upon his perch, apparently as the foundation of his nest. Much as we love him, we would gladly set him free could he but hold his own in the bird world and escape his enemies. Could we but find someone who could set his wing so that he could fly among his kind, we would be gladly content with only the memory of a brave, patient, trusting, dainty, delightful friend.
The Bohemian Waxwing in Maine. By Ora W. Knight, Bangor. ”

“ Its black gorget and tiara, the patches of white, yellow, and black described above, make it very conspicuous for colouring, and the singularity of its appearance is much increased by the appendages to its secondaries and tertiaries, which resemble in colour and substance red sealing-wax. In very old birds these waxen appendages are also to be found at the extremities of the tail-feathers, being no more than the shafts of the feathers, condensed with the web. In its habits the Waxwing resembles the Tits. It feeds on insects, fruit, berries, and seeds. ”

“ Although the sexes are alike in plumage and general appearance, most students of the nesting of waxwings agree that one bird, assumed to be the female, does most of the arranging of the material, and does the shaping of the nest, whereas both birds carry materials to the nest site. As is characteristic of many passerine birds, both members of the pair gather materials and fly back to the nest site, where the female takes the more active part in the construction of the nest itself. ”

“ Some amount of territoriality is characteristic of this subfamily and dimorphism in color—the plumage of the male is outstandingly conspicuous—possibly is of selective value to the race. In a tropical forest community, a duller pattern possibly would be more visible and thus would be selectively disadvantageous.
COURTSHIP
Waxwings are gregarious birds and individuals establish no well-defined territories as do many birds. The nest itself is the only defended territory, and as Crouch (1936) has shown, the Cedar Waxwing will nest in close proximity to others of the same species. ”

“ These ruptive marks on an otherwise blending type of plumage might be important to waxwings, and probably are more effective when the birds remain motionless in either a well-lighted area or in one that is partly in shadow, rather than in one that is wholly in shadow.
The red wax tips on the secondaries of the flight feathers, and sometimes found on the ends of the rectrices in Bombycilla, are puzzling and no wholly convincing reason has been suggested for their occurrence. Two instances are known of yellow instead of red-colored wax tips in B. cedrorum (Farley, 1924) . ”

“ The food is vegetable, and thus is comparatively low in food value; the birds must ingest large quantities of berries or dried fruits to maintain themselves. In winter, in northern latitudes at least, predators are more apt to prey upon those species which, like waxwings, do not migrate south. The winter months are those in which waxwings frequent berry bushes, and it may well be that in these [Pg 488] months, the wax tips that appear like berries, are especially valuable to the birds, and operate selectively. ”

“ Desertion of the nest is not uncommon in waxwings, despite the tolerance to other animals that is shown by the birds. A new nest may suddenly be begun before the first one is finished, and all the materials from the first nest may be removed, or the nest may be abandoned before it is completed. The eggs may be left at any time up to hatching, and the young may be deserted, especially in the earlier stages of development.
The very large and bulky communal nest of Dulus is not radically different from the nest of waxwings. ”

“ In waxwings, all three elements of the hind limb are shortened, indicating that the reduction in length has been, evolutionarily speaking, a rapid process, in order to reduce the limbs to a convenient size as soon as possible. ”

“ The movements of the cedar waxwings are as uncertain in summer as they are in winter; they may be common in one locality for a year or two, and then, apparently without reason, desert it. At this season they feed on insects instead of berries, and may be looked for in small flocks in orchard or wood. The period of nesting is usually late, and, in company with the goldfinches, they do not begin their housekeeping until July and August. Unlike other birds, waxwings will build their nests of almost anything near at hand, and apparently in any growth which takes their fancy,—apple, oak, or cedar. ”

“ It may be these waxwings have greatly increased, but however uncommon they may still be considered, certainly no one who had ever seen a flock containing more than a thousand of them, resting on the trees of a lawn within sight of New York City, as the writer has done, could be expected to consider the birds "very rare." ”

“ It would be valuable to know more concerning the life histories of the other birds considered in this paper, since behavior is inherent, and probably can be cited as evidence of close relationship or the opposite. All that I have been able to learn is that Phainopepla has a nuptial flight in which the male chases the female, and that Dulus (Wetmore and Swales, 1931:347) seeks the company of others of its kind at all times, and that two birds, presumably paired, will sidle up to one another when they are perched.
NEST BUILDING
There are numerous papers concerning the nesting of waxwings. ”

“ A few steps beyond we may study a window where the waxen ladies have been dismembered. Yet a second glance shows the retained portions to be all that woman herself considers important when she tries on the bird-toque or the picture hat, or the gauze confection for afternoons. The satisfied smiles of these waxen counterfeits show them to have been amply recompensed, with the headgear, for their physical incompleteness. ”

“ It is perhaps interesting to note that the queen and the drone have no wax-pockets because they do not take part in the making of wax. For a similar reason their legs are not furnished with wax-pincers, like those of the worker. As the bees hang from the roof of the hive, in solemn and impressive silence, tiny scales are to be seen protruding from the wax-pockets. They look almost like a letter which has been pushed half-way into the slot of a pillar-box. A wax-pocket produces one wax scale, and so the workers each make eight tiny pieces of wax. ”

“ It is his opinion that the wax-workers, having first gorged themselves with honey, suspend themselves in festoons from the flowers, where they remain for twenty-four hours,—which in a chilly spring night would break many a link of the chain,—after which, one detaches herself from the festoon, enters the hive, and takes up her situation, with her forceps detaches a scale of wax from her side where it has recently exuded, works it with her tongue, and fashions it to the required consistency, succeeded in turn by others, artisan and apprentice. ”

“ Wax′-wing, a genus of small Passerine birds, so named from most of the species having small red horny appendages, resembling red sealing-wax, on their wings; Wax′work, work made of wax, esp. figures or models formed of wax: (pl.) an exhibition of wax figures; Wax′worker.—adj. Wax′y, resembling wax: soft: pallid, pasty: adhesive: (slang) irate, incensed.—Waxy degeneration, a morbid process in which the healthy tissue of various organs is transformed into a peculiar waxy albuminous substance—also amyloid or lardaceous degeneration. ”

“ Wax is the animal fat of the bees, and to produce it requires a considerable consumption of honey to supply the drain upon the system. To be capable of passing through the pores of the abdomen, the wax must no doubt be a liquid oily matter, which, on making its appearance outside the abdominal rings, thickens, and exudes from under the four medial ones, in flakes like fish-scales, one on each side; so that there are eight of these secreting cavities, which are peculiar to the worker, not being found either in the queen or drone. ”

“ If one can get a peep behind the window, one may see scores of waxen busts not yet stitched on to their respective bodies, and discern, in half-opened drawers, hundreds of rosy, dimpled limbs; baby hands and feet — which look very funny in their unassociated condition: and one may quickly learn to distinguish the composite doll, whose foundations are laid with paper and whose wax is merely "run," from the solid person, with no pretence about her, who is all wax. On a counter, in a small armchair, sits a demure waxen child, with a book on its knee, a mechanical finger following the printed line ”

“ Wax is the last, and, as I have before pointed out, is, whether used melted or softened by warm water, of the highest service to the artist. Beeswax, when melted, will mix well with either plaster or whiting, or with both, and will make a useful modelling composition, its brittleness being determined by its containing more or less plaster. Wax will also mix with red ochre, and makes a modelling composition. Modelling wax is sold, however, ready prepared, and is useful to pack under the skin for delicate muscles or "flabby" folds of skin. ”

“ Unlike the queen of the hive, the foundress of this colony secretes wax, and does so even more abundantly than one of her workers.
2. The rapid formation of wax in the case of humble bees is very remarkable. Huber confined a number of them, and fed them during many days with pollen only; they produced no wax, constructed no cells, and laid no eggs; but on giving them honey, wax was produced in a few minutes, and the work of the colony proceeded.
The interior of a humble bee’s nest has none of the beauty and regularity of the hive. ”

“ When all the wax is placed, model it into shape with a smooth, wedge-ended bit of pine{60} wood. To clean out wax that ran into the hair by melting, apply alcohol with a bit of cloth, scratch the waxy hair loose with finger nail and rub the crumbled wax out with the bit of alcohol dampened cloth. This leaves lips, eyelids, and nostrils neatly finished. Apply thin varnish to nose, edge of eyelids, and bare parts of lips that show. For mounting a mammal with open mouth, follow same note given in making a whole head for rug. ”

“ Before a bee can make wax she must fill herself with honey. Then she climbs to safe foothold and hangs, while other gorged bees hang on to her in a cluster. There they wait in silence till the wax comes. The scales are either taken out of the maker's pockets by the workers, or tinkle down on the workers while they wait. The workers chew them (they are useless unchewed) into the all-supporting, all-embracing Wax of the Hive. ”

“ There, little by little, the waxy matter oozes out, just as with us sweat oozes through the skin. This matter accumulates in a thin layer which the insect detaches by rubbing the stomach with its legs. There are eight of these wax-producers. When one is idle, another is working; so that the bee always has some layer of wax at its disposal.”
“And what does the bee do with its wax?”
“It builds cells, that is to say storehouses, where the honey is preserved, and little rooms where the young bees in the form of larvæ are raised.” ”

“ Waxbirn, that is, Wax pear, are big-bellied at the lower end, at the upper end taper off into a cone; in length sometimes exceed three inches by a little, but in width rarely exceed two inches. They have a yellow or wax-like color, whence their name has been given them, but on that side where they have received the sun they invite those who look upon them to eat them by their pleasing, speckled redness. They have a sweet flavor, slightly astringent; their pulp is soft and easily melts in the mouth. They ripen when the sun has entered Virgo; they are short-lived and do not last long. ”

“ Tommy Candy had once irreverently named Miss Wax's parlor "the Wax Works," and the name had stuck, as naughty nicknames are apt to do. It was indeed quite a little museum in itself of the fruit of bygone accomplishments. Wax fruit, wax flowers—chiefly roses—in profusion, all carefully guarded by glass; pictures in worsted work, pictures in hair work, all in home-made frames of pinked leather, of varnished acorns, of painted velvet ”