216 CEDAR WAXWING. 



They liave long since abandoned their liabit of building in 



liollow trees, and now nest only about houses or in lawns 



where gourds or boxes are erected for 



Purple Martin, ^j^^-^ occupation. To these they return 



year after year, arriving in the spring 



about April 25 and remaining until September. The 



male is uniform steel-blue, and appears black in the air ; 



the female is grayish, tinged with steel-blue above ; the 



breast is gray, the belly white. This is the largest of 



our Swallows, measuring eight inches in length, 



Waxwings. (Family Ampelidje.) 



One of the two species of Waxwing is a bird of the far 

 North ; the other, our Cedar Waxwing, is found through- 

 Cedar Waxwing, o^^t mrth America. Waxwings pos- 

 Ampdis cedrorinn. scss in an uuusual degree two charac- 

 Piate L^ II. teristics which are not supposed to be 



associated — sociability and silence. None of our birds is 

 more companionable, none more quiet. In their fondness 

 for one another's society they seem to delay the pairing 

 season, and long after other birds have gone to house- 

 keeping they are still roving about in flocks. Finally, 

 late in June, they settle down and build a nest of generous 

 proportions, often in some fruit tree, about ten feet from 

 the ground. The three to five eggs are pale bluish gray 

 or putty-color, spotted with black or brownish black. 



Waxwings fly in close rank and alight as near each 

 other as the nature of their perch will allow. They sit 

 very still, like little Parrots or Doves, but often raise and 

 lower their crests, and perhaps whisper a fine lisping note, 

 which is prolonged into a louder call — a string of beady 

 notes — as they take wing. 



Their fare varies with the season — cedar berries, straw- 

 berries, cherries, both cultivated and wild, the berries 



