■destroy the birds most cheaply but what methods to employ to preserve them. 

 White-fronted geese were found by Nelson breeding abundantly in the Yukon 

 delta from the last of May till well into June. Their nests are placed on the 

 grassy borders of lakelets, whence the young can be quickly led into the pro- 

 tecting water. In far-off Alaska this and the numerous other species of 

 waterfowl that summer there in multitudes not only find comparatively safe 

 solitudes in which to nest but, what is equally or more important, abundant 

 food for themselves and their young. When they arrive in Alaska, late in 

 April or early in May, according to the season, they find the previous year's 

 crop of heath berries awaiting them in cold storage. Again in August and 

 September the new crop of berries is ripe, and upon this the geese fatten and 

 prepare themselves for the trip southward. Thus Alaska, the acquisition of 

 which from Russia has more than fulfilled our expectations in many ways, 

 proves to be the mecca of our waterfowl which, resorting there in spring by 

 thousands, return in fall in fourfold numbers. 



Cedar WaXWing {BombycUla cedronim) 



Length, about 7^4 inches. Known from every other American bird, except 

 its larger cousin, the Bohemian waxwing, by its crest, grayish brown upper parts, 

 _yellow tail band and sealing wax-like tips to secondaries and, sometimes, to tail 

 feathers. 



Range : Breeds from central British Columbia, Alberta, southern Keewatin, 

 ■northern Ontario and northwestern Quebec south to southern Oregon, northern 

 New Mexico, Kansas, northern Arkansas, and North Carolina ; winters over most 

 •of United States and southward to Mexico and Panama. 



In clothing the cedar bird. Mother Nature essayed her very best and reached 

 the limit of quiet elegance. As if aware of the distinction conferred by its smooth 

 delicately tinted plumage, the waxwing has the air of a well-bred aristocrat, and 

 comports itself with a dignity that is very impressive. Why this beautiful creature 

 should be denied a voice is a mystery but, with the exception of the faintest kind 

 oi a whistle and a few low notes, seldom heard, the bird is silent. But its beauty 

 and the good it does should insure it careful protection. 



Except during the nesting season, which is very late, the bird is a wanderer, 

 moving about the country in flocks and remaining a shorter or longer time in 

 a given locality according to the abundance of food. The waxwing is a berry 

 -eater and its local name of "cherry bird" indicates that it by no means disdains 

 cultivated varieties. Fortunately the bulk of the fruit it takes consists of wild 

 species, especially in winter, when cedar berries are greedily devoured. In the 

 west it includes in its bill of fare mulberries and pepper berries. While insects 

 constitute only a comparatively small percentage of its diet, those eaten include 

 :Some very destructive species such as scales and the dreaded elm beetle. 



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