The Cedar WaXWing {BombycUla cedrorum) 

 By Edward Howard Forbush 



Length : 6yj to /j/S inches. 



Range: North America at large, from the Fur C'tnnitries southward. In 

 winter from the northern l)or(ler oi United .*-^tates south to the West Indies and 

 Costa Rico. 



.Among my earliest memories of hird life is one that st:inds out clearly to this 

 day. A Cedar Waxwing had huilt her nest on the low hranch of an old apple 

 tree at the edge of the orchard, and when I, a little eight-\ear-old boy, came and 

 peered in, there she sat in fear :ni<l trenihling, her crest flattened, her exquisite 

 plumage drawn close to her body, and her eyes wild with fear; but she would not 

 desert her charge, because the little ones beneath her tender breast were just 

 breaking the shell. There was something fascinating about her lowereil, flat- 

 tened, almost serpentine head, with its black frontlet and the black bands 

 enclosing her bright, startled eyes, as she snuggled down into her warm, leaf- 

 sheltered nest. Alert and read\ for instant flight, she held her place. It was my 

 first glimpse of the home-life of a wild bird. 



Next year was a canker-worm year, and all through the orchard the little 

 geometrids began to cut holes in the young leaves. Then came the W'axwings 

 in flocks, and there they stayed, often whispering to one another and always 

 catching worms. Such gourmandizers as they were ! They ate until they coulfl 

 eat no more, only to sit about on the branches or play with one another awhile, 

 and then eat again. The canker-worms stripped a few of the old trees, but the 

 Waxwings cleared most of them and saved the leaves ; so we did not lose our 

 apples. When the cherries were ripe, these birds always found them. They 

 stayed in the cherry trees with the same ])ersistence that they showed in their 

 work with the canker-worms. They have a habit, when satiated, of sitting 

 together, sometimes five or six on the same limb, and at such a time I liave 

 seen a cherry or a caterpillar passed from one to another until it had passed 

 up and down the line before any would take it. 



Who can describe the marvelous beauty and elegance of this bird ? What 

 other is dressed in a robe of such delicate and silky texture ? Those shades of 

 blending beauty, velvety black, brightening into fawn, melting browns, shifting 

 saffrons, quaker drabs, pale blue and slate with trimmings of white and golden 

 yellow, and the little red appendages uijon the wing not found in any other 

 family of birds — all, combined with its graceful form, give the bird an appearance 

 of elegance and distinction peculiarly its own. Its mobile, erectile crest expresses 

 every emotion. When lying loose and low upon the head, it signifies ease and 

 comfort. Excitement or surprise erect it at once, and in fear it is pressed flat. 



In 1908, some fruit-growers in \'ermont introduced into the assembly a 

 bill framed to allow them to shoot Cedar ^^'ax wings. This liill was pushed with 



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