The Cedar Waxwing 57 



a bulky structure, composed largely of the stems of weeds and grasses, a few 

 twigs, grape-vine, cedar or hemlock bark, and feathers, hair or wool; some- 

 times including rags, string, Unt, paper or yarn in its construction. 



The eggs number three to five, pale bluish, or bluish gray, with more or 

 less of a purple tint, tapering rather suddenly toward the small end, and marked 

 with small distinct roundish spots of blackish or umber. The large end is 

 marked with various touches and shades of purple. An egg is laid daily until 

 the set is complete. The male and the female are said to take turns in incubat- 

 ing, and in feeding the young, which hatch after about fourteen days' incubation. 



The migrations and winter movements of the Cedar Wax- 

 Migration wing are controlled largely by the supply of certain wild berries 

 in the regions over wliich they pass. Therefore they may be 

 met with in fall and winter anywhere from the latitude of Maine to that of 

 Georgia, wherever the berries upon which they feed are plentiful. In spring, 

 however, there seems to be a rather irregular double migration northward. 

 Mr. Wayne states that they appear in South Carolina in February, and again 

 in the last few days of March. In eastern Massachusetts, a flight comes usually 

 in February and another in May, after which the bird is distributed over New 

 England. The significance of these flights has never been fully explained, but 

 in Massachusetts the earher flight is supposed to be composed of birds that 

 go far north to breed. When moving long distances, the Cedar Waxwing flies 

 high, but ordinarily it passes just above the tree-tops. 



The food of the Cedar Waxwing consists very largely of 

 Food fruit; but most of it is wild fruit of no value to man. 



The Biological Survey finds that 87 per cent of its food for 

 the year is vegetable matter. Wild fruits and seeds compose 74 per cent of 

 this and cultivated cherries only 5 per cent. The animal food consists mainly 

 of insects. When the Waxwings come in spring, they may be seen pecking at 

 the blossoms of fruit trees and scattering the petals broadcast; but when 

 their stomachs have been examined quantities of the insects that infest the 

 blossoms have been found. They are fond of leaf-eating beetles, and devour 

 quantities of the Colorado potato beetle and the pernicious elm-leaf beetle, 

 which has proved so destructive to elms recently in the eastern states. Mr. 

 Outran! Bangs informed me that the Waxwings entirely cleared his young elms 

 of this pest. Mrs. Mary Treat notes a similar instance. This bird is very fond 

 of the small geometrid caterpillars which strip the foHage from apple teees, 

 elms and other trees, and it destroys enormous quantities of these worms. 

 Professor Forbes estimates that a flock of thirty of these birds will eat 90,000 

 canker-worms a month — a very moderate estimate, for the appetite of the bird 

 is unlimited. Cedar Waxwdngs have been known to gorge themselves with 

 early cherries so as to be unable to fly. The yoimg are fed quantities of in- 

 sects, and, as they grow older, the parents give them fruit. The food is usually 

 regurgitated into the open mouths of the little onds. 



