92 BULLETIN 19 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and displayed his dangling legs, with all the pomposity of authority." 



The berry-passing habit is mentioned under "Courtship." Be- 

 tween two birds, back and forth, it is common enough, but the passing 

 of a berry along a row of birds is much more rarely seen. We may 

 watch a flock of cedarbirds for days and see no trace of it; in fact 

 many authors, Wilson and Audubon, for example, do not mention 

 the habit at all. Nuttall (1832), however, on the authority of "my 

 friend S. Green, Esq., of Boston," says : "This friendly trait is carried 

 so far, that an eye-witness assures me he has seen one among a row 

 of these birds seated upon a branch dart after an insect, and offer it 

 to his associate when caught, who very disinterestedly passed it to 

 the next, and each delicately declining the offer, the morsel has pro- 

 ceeded backwards and forwards before it was appropriated." 



One hundred years later Dr. Thomas S. Koberts (1932), an un- 

 questioned authority, describes the habit thus: "Even more surpris- 

 ing, they may be seen to pass some titbit, a rif)e cherry most likely, 

 from one to the other all along the line and then back again, several 

 times in succession without any bird being impolite enough to eat it !" 



Of the birds in the air Dr. Dayton Stoner (1932) says: "In their 

 flights a close order is maintained and sometimes a large flock will 

 suddenly wheel, the members behaving as a unit and, darting down- 

 ward, alight as a group in the top of a tree, whence thereupon a chorus 

 of low, tremulous whistles soon proceeds." 



Crouch (1936), writing of the relations of cedar waxwings toward 

 other birds, says : 



They always seem to be friendly. While I was watching the birds on July 15, 

 another Waxwing made its appearance. It happened that the female was off the 

 nest at that time, and instead of there being a fight, as one might expect, there 

 was nothing of the kind. The female merely flew quickly to the nest and 

 covered the eggs, while the other two birds sat on a branch about eight 

 feet away. This same procedure is followed when otlier species come close 

 to the nest. A Catbird approached to within two feet of the nest one day. 

 There was no fight. They merely flew at him, and one bird went on the nest. 

 The other sat close by for a few minutes and then flew off. Similarly, a Chicka- 

 dee visited the nest and hopped right into it and picked around. The owner 

 came onto the nest directly, but did not chase the Chickadee away. He stayed 

 within a few inches of the nest, peering about with curiosity. 



Dr. Arthur A. Allen (1930) makes the point that cedarbirds have 

 nothing to gain by fighting, for their food is of such a nature that there 

 is either more of it than they could consume before it spoils or else 

 there is none at all. Since they can fly long distances to feeding 

 places, they do not need to defend a feeding territory about their 

 nests. 



Charles H. Feltes (1936) gives an interesting account (summarized 

 also in Bird-Banding, vol. 6, p. 104, 1935) of trapping and banding 

 4,010 cedar waxwings in California. He attracted the birds with a 



