94 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



among fully adult and very young birds." The young are much duller than the adults 

 and have the under parts streaked with brownish or dull grayish on a whitish ground. 



The nests are bulky and are built in trees. They are constructed of small twigs, 

 rootlets, and the like, mixed and lined with feathers and other soft materials. The eggs, 

 3 to 5 in number, are pale dull bluish or pale purplish-gray spotted and dotted with dark 

 brown, black, and purplish. The young are cared for in the nest. 



The Waxwings live among the trees and feed on berries, fruits, and insects. 



Closely allied to the Waxwings are the Silky Flycatchers, a family that is peculiar to 

 Central America and Mexico and which contains but four species. Of these only one 

 extends its range into the United States. This is the Phainopepla. The Silky Flycatchers 

 differ from the Waxwings in their rounded wings, the well-developed bristles at the corners 

 of the mouth, and the wholly exposed nostrils. Their habits, however, are very similar. 



CEDAR WAXWING 

 Bombycilla cedrorum Vicillot 



A. O. U. Number 619 Sec Color I'late 89 



Other Names. — Cherry Bird ; Cedar Bird ; Southern 

 Waxwing; Carolina Waxwing: Canada Robin; Re- 

 collet. 



General Description. — Length, 7'4 inches. Plum- 

 age of perfectly blended colors, the effect being a 

 pinkish grayish-brown with yellow on abdomen and 

 tip of tail. 



Color. — Adults in Perfect Plumage: Lores and 

 wedge-shaped patch back of eye (connected with loral 

 area above eye), velvety black; chin, dull black; rest 

 of head, together with neck and chest, soft pinkish 

 wood-brown or brownish-fawn color, darker on throat, 

 where shading into the black or dusky of chin, slightly 

 duller or grayer on hindneck ; front portion of cheek 

 region and a narrow line (sometimes obsolete) sepa- 

 rating the brown of forehead from the black of lores, 

 white; back and shoulders similar in color to hindneck 

 but slightly grayer, the wing-coverts still grayer ; 

 secondaries and primary coverts slate-gray, the first 

 with terminal appendages (flattened and expanded pro- 

 longations of the shaft) of scarlet, resembling red 

 sealing wax; primaries, darker (slate color), edged 

 with paler gray ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and basal 

 portion of tail, paler gray than secondaries, deepening 

 toward end of tail into blackish-slate or slate-black, 

 the tail tipped with a sharply defined band of lemon or 

 chrome yellow ; vinaceous-brown color of chest passing 

 into a slightly paler and duller hue on breast and front 

 portion of sides, and this into light yellowish-olive or 

 dull olive-yellowish on flanks and back portion of sides ; 

 the abdomen, similar but paler (sometimes nearly 

 white); bill, black; iris, brown; legs and feet, black. 

 Imperfect plumage: Similar to the perfect plumage, 

 as described above, but without red wax-like append- 

 ages to secondaries, and yellow band across tip of 

 tail narrower and paler yellow. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Generally in an orchard, 

 within 20 feet of the ground; rather bulky, constructed 



of twigs, leaves, grasses, strips of bark, twine, paper, 

 and rags ; lined with fine grass, horse-hair, or wool. 

 Eggs : 3 to 5, bluish-gray to dull olive, marked with 

 spots and blotches of sepia and dark purple. 



Distribution. — Temperate North America in general ; 

 breeding from Virginia, western North Carolina, Ken- 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



CEDAR WAXWING (J nat. size) 



polite as he is 



tucky, Kansas, New Mexico and Arizona (in moun- 

 tains), and Oregon, northward to Prince Edward Island, 

 southern shores of Hudson Bay, Manitoba, Saskatche- 

 wan, and British Columbia; wintering in whole of 

 United States (in wooded districts), and migrating 

 southward to Bahamas, Cuba, Little Cayman, and 

 Jamaica, in West Indies, and through Mexico and 

 Central America to highlands of Costa Rica ; accidental 

 in Bermudas and British Isles. 



