Abstract
MIGRATIONS OF THE WAXWING.—The waxwing, Ampelis garrulus, is not a rare visitor to our shores. Seldom a winter passes but one or more is observed in eastern parts of Britain, and occasionally its numbers indicate a very considerable immigration. The largest ever witnessed in Scotland occurred in the late autumn of 1921, and is discussed by Dr. J. Ritchie in the Scottish Naturalist, September 1922—February 1923. The immediate cause of Scotland's share in this immigration is due in the first place to the lack of food-supply in Norway. The summer of 1921 in that country has been notorious for the lack of wild berries upon which the waxwings feed. Large flocks of the birds congregated in the southern part of Norway, but, finding insufficient food, took advantage of easterly winds accompanied by a rapidlj rising barometer to reach our shores. The meteorological phenomena associated with the migration are complex, and Dr. Ritchie promises to deal with them in a future paper.
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Research Items. Nature 111, 511–512 (1923). https://doi.org/10.1038/111511a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/111511a0