88 BULLETIN 197, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Flumages. — [Author's note: Dr. Dwiglit (1900) describes tlio 

 Juvenal plumage of the young cedar waxwing as follows : 



Above, including sides of head and wing coverts, olive-brown. Below, paler 

 with darker broad fused stripes on the throat, breast, sides and flanks, the chin 

 paler, the abdomen and crissum dull white often yellow or buff tinged. A crest 

 not well marked is found on the crown. Anterior frontal feathers, lores and 

 partial orbital ring dull black; posterior quadrant of orbital ring, submalar 

 streak and narrow superciliary line white or pale buff. Cliin bordered laterally 

 by dull black. Wings and tail slate-black, the primaries ashy edged, occasionally 

 some of the secondaries tipped with bright vermillion wax-like appendages, the 

 tail terminated with a lemon-yellow band, the rectrices also occasionally but in- 

 frequently tipped with similar red appendages. 



A partial postjuvenal molt, involving the contour plumage and the 

 wing coverts, but not the rest of the wings or the tail, begins in Sep- 

 tember. This produces a first-winter plumage, which is practically 

 indistinguishable from that of the adult, the brown being much lighter, 

 the crest well marked, and the breast not streaked. The red append- 

 ages on the wings and tail are usually more frequent in adult than in 

 young birds. 



The nuptial plumage is acquired by wear, which is not very obvious, 

 and a complete postnuptial molt occurs in both one year old birds and 

 adults, usually beginning in September. The sexes are practically 

 alike in all plumages, though the female usually has less black on the 

 chin, and perhaps fewer red appendages.] 



Food. — ^Waldo L. McAtee (1926) gives the following comprehen- 

 sive summary of the cedar waxwing's food : 



The Cedar-bird gets five-sixths of its food from the vegetable kingdom and at 

 times is destructive to flowers of fruit trees, and later to the ripening fruit espe- 

 cially of cherries. Sometimes local control measures are necessary to preserve 

 the crop. 



Destruction of cultivated fruit is an index to the natural feeding habits of 

 the bird, wild fruits being decidedly favored. Those most frequently taken are 

 junoberries, strawberries, cedar berries, and the various wild cherries. The 

 only other vegetable food of importance in the diet of the Cedar-bird is flowers. 



The animal food (one-sixth of the whole) comprises quite a variety of items, 

 of which beetles probably are most important. Leaf beetles. Including the locust 

 leaf beetle (Odontota dorsalis), and weevils are forms detrimental to the forest. 

 Carpenter ants, sawfly larvae, caterpillars, cicadas, and scale insects are other 

 tree pests eaten. The other noteworthy items of animal food are crane-flies, 

 spiders, mayflies, dragon flies, and stone flies. 



The Cedar-bird in some places is called Cankerbird, on account of a marked 

 fondness for cankerworms, and it has a great reputation also as a foe of the elm 

 leaf beetle. In New England it has several times been observed to clean up 

 local infestations of this pest. The species has been observed to clear orchards 

 of the tent caterpillars and to feed also on larvae of the forest tent caterpillar, 

 the willow sawfly, the basket-worm of cedar, and the spotted willow leaf beetle. 



Except in the orchard of ripening cherries, the Cedarbird is a desirable visitor. 

 Although ordinarily it may not be highly iiseful, at times evidently it attacks some 

 pests in a wholesale way. Then, just as it is able to do much harm by feeding 



