^°19^8^'^] Cameron, Birds of Custer & Dawson Counties, Mont. 4T 



tree from which at intervals the birds gyrate in widening circles, sometimes 

 altogether and sometimes only a part of them, as though impelled to 

 exercise for the sake of warmth on such a wintry day. They seem to prefer 

 dead trees, most likely because the view from them is less obstructed, and 

 are so densely massed that an incredible number might be killed by a shot. 

 Although they habitually rest in trees, I have twice seen a large flock 

 alight on the ground, but regard this as very unusual. Waxwings have 

 always an abundance of food, and can support extreme cold as well as any 

 of the circumpolar birds. Nevertheless, at times I have seen them greatly 

 affected by it. Some such days indeed I shall always remember, one 

 especially in January, 1896, when a blizzard from the north, combined 

 with the low temperature of 31° below zero Fahrenheit and deep snow, 

 made discouraging atmospheric conditions. Not caring to stay in camp, 

 and wanting meat, I had gone out on foot in the endeavor to shoot a deer. 

 The wliirling snow from below met that driven from above, so that an 

 encompassing snow-cloud hid all objects outside the cedars, while the view 

 inside, usually curtailed, was now clearest in their sheltering depths. As 

 may be supposed, all the animals on the adjacent plains had crowded into 

 this haven, even such unlikely visitors as antelope and Sage Grouse. I 

 saw altogether nine deer, one in picturesque pose eating cedar berries only 

 a few yards distant, but so intense was the cold I found it impossible to 

 discharge my rifle. On this day and other similar days, the Sharp-tailed 

 Grouse never left their burrows at all, and the Waxwings were so stupe-, 

 fied as scarcely to move out of my way in the brush. It is in weather of 

 this kind that they become the prey of ranch cats. A very fine male 

 which our cat brought to me on Feb. 13, 1899, was quite fat after eighteen 

 days of a cold wave during which 45° below zero was registered. I do not 

 think that many Waxwings fall victims to Prairie Falcons, as they betake 

 themselves to thick cover when the latter are about. On March 6, 1904, 

 my wife and I approached within two yards of a flock of Waxwings, which 

 refused to leave a low cedar when a Rough-legged Hawk was sailing above. 

 The winter of 1906-07 was the most severe in my Montana experience, 

 and Waxwings, tamed proportionately to the cold, frequented the hay- 

 stacks and corrals at Knowlton in company with flocks of Horned Larks 

 and Snowflakes. They even entered the town of Miles City, and Mr. H. B. 

 Wiley wrote, under date of Feb. 4, 1907: "I found a bunch of about fifty 

 Bohemian Waxwings in my yard eating the frozen apples." 



As the migration period approaches Waxwings become very restless 

 and fly backwards and forwards with great swiftneSs. Unusually warm 

 weather deceives them into the belief that spring has come, when they 

 adopt a direct mode of flight instead of circling. When flying the birds 

 keep up an incessant twittering, so that high passing flocks are immediately 

 recognized by their call of zir-r-r-r — a sort of trill. Seebohm writes the 

 notes cir-ir-ir-ir-re and compares them to the song of the Redpoll.' The 



1 British Birds, Vol. II, p. 5. 



