SHRIKES, WAXWINGS, SWALLOWS, AND TANAGERS. 125 



Its name has been given it because of its fondness for cedar- 

 berries, to obtain which it frequents cedar thickets. u These 

 birds are exceedingly hardy and voracious, and for this reason 

 have become adapted to a wide range of food. During the 

 early spring and summer they are said to feed almost exclu- 

 sively upon insects, and during the last of July and August 

 they feed to a considerable extent upon them. They are dex- 

 terous fly-catchers, and when in the woods they labor in a 

 field almost peculiar to themselves. They often station them- 

 selves upon the top- 

 most branches of some 

 dead tree-top which 

 commands a view above 

 the forest, and there 

 watch hours together 

 for insects, every few 

 minutes beating off and 

 up into the air to secure 

 the winged forms that 

 are passing above them. 

 On the borders of woods 

 they often fly out six or 

 more rods for passing 

 insects. Besides being 



fly-catchers they search among the foliage of trees for larvae 

 of various tkinds." 1 Unfortunately, the cedar wax wings are 

 also very fond of cherries, and on this account are in bad re- 

 pute among fruit-growers. Yet it has been shown that they 

 generally eat only the earliest cherries, and there can be little 

 doubt that during the year they abundantly pay for the fruit 

 taken during the cherry season. In some localities cherry- 

 trees have been so generally planted that there is more than 

 enough for birds and men ; in such places the depredations 



THE CEDAR-BIRD. 



1 F. H. King. 



