The Cedar Waxwing 83 



of the jay and the kingfisher, the red of the 

 cardinal, and the richly shaded grayish-brown of 

 the cedar waxwing, which is, perhaps, the most 

 familiar of them all. His neat and well-groomed 

 plimiage is fine and very silky, almost dove-like 

 in colouring, and although there are no gaudy 

 features about it, few of our birds are so ex- 

 quisitely dressed. The pointed crest, which 

 rises and falls to express every passing emotion, 

 and the velvety black chin, forehead, and line 

 running apparently through the eye, give dis- 

 tinction to the head. The tail has a narrow 

 yellow band across its end, and on the wings are 

 the small red spots like seaHng wax that are 

 responsible for the bird's queer name. The 

 waxwing is larger than a sparrow and smaller 

 than a robin. 



But it is difficult to think of a single bird 

 when one usually sees a flock. Sociable to a 

 degree, the waxwings rove about a neighbour- 

 hood in scattered companies, large and small, 

 to feed on the cedar or juniper berries, choke- 

 cherries, dog-wood and woodbine berries, elder, 

 haw, and other small wild fruits on which they 

 feed very greedily ; then move on to some other 

 place where their favourite fruit abounds. 

 Happily, they care very little about our culti- 

 vated fruit and rarely touch it. A good way 

 to invite many kinds of birds to visit one's 

 neighbourhood is to plant plenty of berry- 



