250 OMNIVOROUS BIRDS. 



the beginning of April, before the ripening of their favor- 

 ite fruits, the cherries and mulberries. But at this sea- 

 son, to repay the gardener for the tythe of his crop, their 

 natural due, they fail not to assist in ridding his trees of 

 more deadly enemies which infest them, and the small 

 caterpillars, beetles, and various insects now constitute 

 their only food ; and for hours at a time they may be 

 seen feeding on the all-despoiling Canker-worms,* which 

 infest our Apple trees and Elms. On these occasions, 

 silent and sedate, after plentifully feeding, they sit dres- 

 sing their feathers, in near contact on the same branch 

 to the number of 5 or ; and as the season of selective 

 attachment approaches, they may be observed pluming 

 each other, and caressing with the most gentle fondness ; 

 a playfulness, in which, however, they are even surpassed 

 by the contemned Raven, to which social and friendly 

 family our Cedar Bird, different as he looks, has many 

 traits of alliance. But these demonstrations of attach- 

 ment, which, in a more vigorous kind, would kindle the 

 feud of jealousy, apparently produce in this bird scarcely 

 any diminution of the general social tie ; and as they are 

 gregarious to so late a period of the inviting season of incu- 

 bation, this affection has been supposed to be independent 

 of sexual distinction. This friendly trait is carried so 

 far, that an eye-witness t assures me he has seen one 

 among a row of these birds seated upon a branch dart 

 after an insect, and offer it to his associate when caught, 

 who very disinterestedly passed it to the next, and each 

 delicately declining the offer, the morsel has proceeded 

 backwards and forwards before it was appropriated. 

 Whatever may be the fact, as it regards this peculiar so- 

 ciability, it frequently facilitates the means of their de- 



* The caterpillar larva of a Phalieiia. \ My friend S. Green, Rsq., of Boston. 



