48 Cameron, Birds of Custer & Dawson Counties, Mont. [j^ 



weak voice of a single Waxwing is inaudible except at very close quarters, 

 but hundreds together produce quite a volume of sound. 



161. Ampelis cedronim. Cedar Waxwing. — Tolerably common sum- 

 mer visitor in both counties. Notes kept from 1894 show that it arrives 

 regularly during the first week of June, and once (in 1906) on May 31. 

 Very few pairs remain to breed but transient flocks, of from twenty to 

 tliirty birds, occur which make a twittering similar to the Bohemian 

 Waxwing. Two or three pairs of these flocks remained throughout the 

 summer on my ranch (Custer County), which was a favorite haunt of 

 Cedar Waxwings, both on account of the thickets of wild fruit trees and 

 the abundance of water and shade on which these birds seem very de- 

 pendent.^ 



At the time of writing (1907) I am not aware that Cedar Waxwings 

 (which are the latest breeders of any birds here) nest anywhere else in the 

 two counties. In August, 1899, I paid particular attention to Cedar Wax- 

 wings, as a small flock of twenty birds had been about the ranch since 

 June 1. One pair made a nest in a thicket below the house and the female 

 was sitting on three eggs on August 19. The nest would not have been 

 discovered but for the actions of the male bird which was constantly 

 perched on the top of an old box elder which towered above all the other 

 trees in the grove. This induced me to search diligently below until I 

 found the nest, a large structure of coarse grass and twigs, which was 

 interwoven with four small shoots of a young box elder and thus held 

 tightly against the parent stem. The young Waxwings seemed to mature 

 very quickly, for although their feathers had only just begun to show on 

 August 26, on September 2 I saw them leave their nest and all fly up into 

 the tree at my approach. In color they were plumbeous gray, with some 

 black about the head, a yellow border to the tail, but no sign of a crest. 

 The whole family remained in the vicinity of the nest for some days, and 

 I saw the parents feeding the young on grasshoppers, which are the uni- 

 versal 'stand-by' of almost every bird here. 



These Cedar Waxwings had an extraordinary characteristic, that of 

 drawing themselves to their utmost height, and standing perfectly rigid 

 on a branch with closed eyes, when they appeared dazed or blind. I 

 have remarked tliis practice in caged canaries, but never before in wild 

 birds. The female indulged this habit to a ridiculous extent, before her 

 nestlings were fledged and, whereas the more wary male took care to keep 

 well out of my reach, she allowed me to set up a camera a few feet away, 

 and to move around her as close as I pleased without taking any notice 

 unless almost touched. In this respect the newly fledged young imitated 

 her. Perched in a row along a branch, with the male higher up in the 

 tree, this was indeed the most impassive bird family I have ever seen. 

 An attempt to catch a fledgling could alone arouse them from their trance, 

 in which event the excited parents wovild alternately raise or depress their 



1 See introduction, Auk, Vol. XXIV, p. 246. 



