32 Bird Studies. 



This bird is about four inches and a half long. It is plain dusky slate 



color above shading into black on the top of the head, and with a yellow 



Bahama Honey patch on the rump. There is a clear stripe of white above 



Creeper. the eye. The cheeks are white and the region above the 



ccErebabahamensis (Reich.), ears black. The throat is white, reaching well down on 

 the chest. The breast is yellow and the sides and flanks grayish tinged with 

 yellow. There is a conspicuous white patch at the base of the larger feathers 

 of the wings. The feathers below the tail are white and some of the outer 

 of the dark tail feathers are tipped with the same color. 



The birds build oven-shaped nests with an opening on one side. They 

 are placed in low trees or bushes. The eggs are white, sprinkled with fine 

 dark brown specks. They are about two thirds of an inch long and half an 

 inch broad. This is a bird of the Bahama Islands and also occurs on the 

 keys, and probably the mainland of Southern Florida. 



The Waxwings are the nomads among birds, the gypsies in feathers, 



the wanderers without regard to season. Their marked traits are gregari- 



ousness, great personal beauty in dress, a certain uncan- 



Cedar Waxwing. ni,-,ess and mystery in their silent comings and ooinofs, and 



Ampelis cedrorun (Vieill.). i r • • o o ' 



a love for forbidden fruits. No song nor season heralds 

 their appearance. The last flock I saw were feeding on some overlooked 

 cedar berries, when the ground was white with snow, in January; and when 

 the cherry has taken the place of its blossoms, on some warm day in June, 

 offering the greatest contrast to the wind-swept snow of our last meeting, I 

 shall see the gypsies again. They will be as much at home in the warm sun- 

 shine of June, when nature is at its flood, as they were in the cedars and snow, 

 when the hand of the ice king had wrapped sleeping life in his cold white mantle. 

 How delicately the soft brown of the back shades into the gray blue on 

 the rump and upper tail ! What a fine gold tip has each tail feather ! The 

 velvet black of the chin and about the eyes is in fine contrast to the brown 

 crest, that lends so much character to their appearance. Where the soft jet 

 black of the chin changes into brown on the throat and breast no one can 

 tell. The same subtle kind of change into the faint but decided olive on the 

 flanks, and to white on the belly and the feathers below the tail, leaves no abrupt 

 marking or outline that can be defined. Many of the birds have very fine coral 

 red tips to some of the smaller wing feathers, and now and then an individual 

 has the gold end of each tail feather tipped with these brilliant decorations. 



