80 BULLETIN 197, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Alexander Wilson (Wilson and Bonaparte, 1832), writing of this 

 attractive decoration, says: "Six or seven, and sometimes the whole 

 nine, secondary feathers of the wings are ornamented at the tips with 

 small red oblong appendages, resembling red sealing-wax; these aj)- 

 pear to be a prolongation of the shafts, and to be intended for preserv- 

 ing the ends, and consequently the vanes, of the quills, from being 

 broken and worn away by the almost continual fluttering of the bird 

 among thick branches of the cedar. The feathers of those birds 

 which are without these appendages are uniformly found ragged on 

 the edges, but smooth and perfect in those on whom the marks are full 

 and numerous." 



Sprmg. — Spring begins late with the cedar waxwings, for although 

 many move northward into New England in January and February 

 and often linger for weeks, sometimes in great numbers, attracted by 

 a plentiful supply of food, these apparently are merely wandering 

 flocks (noted under "Winter") . The breeding birds of the Transition 

 Zone, the real spring birds, do not arrive, it is thought, until well into 

 May, and even then they do not start nesting until long afterward. 



William Brewster (1906) ably summarizes their movements in the 

 region about Boston, Mass., during the first part of the year. He says : 



The seasonal movements of the Cedarbird are somewhat erratic and not as 

 yet fully understood. There is apparently a double migration northward, the 

 first flight — which is much the heavier of the two — reaching eastern Massa- 

 chusetts anywhere between the last of January and the tirst of March. The 

 birds which compose it appear suddenly, often in very large flocks, and make 

 themselves peculiarly conspicuous by roaming restlessly over the country, fre- 

 quently visiting densely populated localities to feast on the berries of the 

 mountain ash, the English hawthorn, Parkman's apple and other cultivated 

 trees. They also eat asparagus berries, and they are especially fond of the 

 berries of the red cedar or Virginia juniper. They disappear almost completely 

 before the end of April, presumably going further north to breed, although this 

 has never been definitely established. 



The second flight, which arrives in May, is believed to be made up chiefly, if 

 not wholly, of the birds which pass the summer with us. They appear in pairs 

 or in small, scattered flocks which are seen almost everywhere but most fre- 

 <iuently in apple orchards. 



Courtship. — Cedarbirds spend so great a portion of the year gathered 

 together in flocks, and when thus assembled, contrary to the custom 

 of most birds, pay so much attention to one another, that it is often 

 difficult to decide whether to regard some of their actions as indicating 

 courtship or to consider them an expression of the comradeship or 

 courtesy that seems to pervade their behavior. The passing of a berry 

 back and forth between two birds, or along a line of birds, a procedure 

 we may watch sometimes even in winter, may have developed from 

 courtship feeding, and the delicate little dance, in which one of two 

 birds hops close to the side of the other, then takes one short hop away, 

 and back again, over and over, may have its origin in courting be- 



