° 1911 J Saunders, Nesting of the Cedar Waxwing. 325 



All of the nests found in the thicket were discovered between 

 August 20 and September 14, and all contained either eggs or 

 young. The number of eggs or young was three in four cases and 

 four in four others. In the other three nests it was not determined. 

 Four nests were found before the complete sets were laid. Two of 

 these were deserted, apparently because of my intrusion, and these 

 two were the only nests of the eleven that failed to successfully 

 rear a brood of young. A curious incident happened in one of 

 these nests. When I found it, it contained a single egg which was 

 partially imbedded into the bottom of the nest. The next day 

 the nest was empty and I supposed the egg had been taken by 

 some animal or bird, though I could not find a hollow place in the 

 bottom, where the egg had been imbedded. Nothing further 

 happened to the nest and about a week later I took it down and 

 examined it. I was surprised to find the one egg sealed into the 

 bottom. Apparently the bird had sealed up its egg and then 

 deserted the nest. 



The two undeserted nests which had contained incomplete sets 

 of eggs were carefully watched. In both cases the remaining eggs 

 were laid daily and the period between the laying of the last egg 

 and the hatching of the young was twelve days. I watched incu- 

 bating birds for some time and so far as I could tell, only the female 

 performs this duty. 



After the young hatch the female broods closely for several days 

 until they become partially feathered and the eyes begin to open. 

 During this time she seldom leaves the nest and never for more 

 than an hour at a time. After' this she broods but little in the 

 daytime but continues to brood at night until the young are about 

 twelve days old. I believe the male does not brood at all. 



Both birds feed the young, but during the first few days when the 

 female is brooding the male does most of it. When he comes to 

 feed the young, the female leaves the nest for a few minutes, but 

 returns as soon as he has gone. In all cases these birds are very 

 slow and deliberate in their movements about the nest. They 

 take a long time to approach the nest, feed the young, and leave 

 again, during most of which they stand perfectly still between 

 movements, with the neck stretched, the bill pointed upward and 

 the crest lving flat on the back of the neck. I watched the nests 



