CEDAR BIRD, OR CHERRY BIRD. 255 



above by a slender line of white ; another line of the same color passing 

 from the lower mandible. The chin black, gradually brightening into 

 greyish brown. The belly yellow ; vent white ; wings dusky-grey. 

 Rump and tail-coverts dark ash-color ; tail of the same color deep- 

 ening into dusky, and broadly tipt with yellow. Six or 7, and some- 

 times the whole 9 secondaries of the wings curiously ornamented 

 with small vermilion oblong appendages, resembling sealing-wax, 

 which are a prolongation of the shafts ; occasionally these processes 

 also terminate some of the tail-feathers. Many of these birds are 

 destitute of these singular ornaments, which answer no economical 

 purpose whatever to the individual. The bill, legs, and claws are 

 black. Iris blood-red. In the female, the tints are duller. 



