350 THE CEDAR WAXWING. 



scribes as lia\'ing been placed in an alder at a height of eight feet, and it con- 

 tained four eggs on the point of hatching. The brooding bird allowed a close 

 approach while upon the nest, but was not seen again after being once flushed. 



No. 134. 



CEDAR WAXWING. 



A. O. U. No. 619. Bombycilla cedrorum Vieill. 



Synonyms. — Ced.\r-bird. Cherry-bird. Carolina ^\'AxwING. Lesser 

 Waxwixg. 



Description. — Adults: A conspicuous crest; extreme forehead, lores, and 

 line thru eye velvety-black ; chin blackish, fading rapidly into the rich grayish- 

 brown of remaining fore-parts and head ; a narrow whitish line bordering the 

 black on the forehead ancl the blackish of the chin ; back darker, shading thru 

 ash of rump to blackish-ash of tail ; tail-feathers abruptly tipped with gamboge 

 yellow ; belly sordid yellow ; under tail-coverts white ; wings slaty-gray, primaries 

 narrowly edged with whitish : secondaries and inner quills without white mark- 

 ings, but bearing tips of red "sealing-wax"; the tail-feathers are occasionally 

 found with the same curious, horny appendages ; bill black ; feet plumbeous. 

 Sexes alike, but considerable individual variation in number and size of waxen 

 tips. Young, streaked everywhere with whitish, and usually without red tips. 

 I^ength 6.50-7.50 (165.1-190.5) ; wing 3.70 (94) ; tail 2.31 (58.7) ; bill .40 (10.2). 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size; soft grayish-brown plumage; crest; 

 red sealing-wax tips on secondaries ; belly yellow ; wings without white bars or 

 spots, as clistinguished from ])receding species. 



Nesting. — Nest, a bulky affair of leaves, grasses, bark-strips and trash, well 

 lined with rootlets and soft materials ; placed in crotch or horizontally saddled 

 on limb of orchard or evergreen tree. Eggs, 3-6, dull grayish blue or putty-color, 

 marked sparingly with deep-set, rounded spots of umber or black. Av. size, 

 .86 X .61 (21.8x15.5). Season: June, July ; two broods. 



General Range. — North .America at large, from the Fur Countries south- 

 ward. In winter from the northern border of the United States south to the West 

 Indies and Costa Rica. Breeds from Virginia, Kansas, Oregon, etc., northward. 



Range in Washington. — Of regular occurrence in the State, but irregular 

 or variable locally. Resident, but less common in winter. 



Authorities. — Ampelis cedroniiii Baird, Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pac. 

 R. R. Surv. XII. pt. II. i860, p. 187. T. C&S. Rb. D'. Kb. Ra. D-\ Ss-'. Kk. B. E. 



Specimens.— (U. of W.) Prov. P. B. E. 



ONE does not care to commit himself in precise language up(in the range 

 of the Cedarbird, or to predict that it will be found at any given spot in a 

 given season. The fact is, Cedarbirds are gypsies of the feathered kind. 

 There are alwavs some of them about somewhere, but their comings and goings 

 are not according to any fixed law. A company of Cedarbirds may throng the 



