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While many birds are prominently 

 marked with yellow and brown, very 

 few have any blue in their plumage. By 

 far the most brilliant of our blue birds 

 are INDIGO BUNTINGS. They arrive 4 

 the first week in May and immediately 

 repair to their favorite haunts which 

 are dry thickets or patches of briers, 

 preferably on hillsides. The males are 

 in full song- when they arrive and con- 

 tinue singing- until the middle of July, 

 -long after most of our songsters have 

 become silent. Their song is a very 

 musical one, nearly as good and some- 

 what resembling that of the Goldfinch 

 and recalling certain passages from 

 that of our household canary. His best 

 vocal efforts are always made from an 

 elevated position, usually the top of 

 a bush or small tree overlooking his 

 nesting grounds. 



The sparrow-like female is rarely 

 seen unless we come close to her nest, 

 when she will appear and add her deep 

 chirps of protest to those of her mate. 

 The nest is close to the ground in 

 brush or weeds. 



Waxwings not only glean vermin from the branches, but 

 they often dash out after passing insects, flycatcher-fashion 

 Waxwings are handsome birds. In fact I know of no 

 other species whose plumage is always so sleek. They may 

 easily be recognized by their soft brownish-gray plumage, 

 conspicuous crest and band of yellow across the tip of the 

 tail. Many male Waxwings have peculiar hard, red, seal- 

 ing-wax-like appendages to the tips of many secondaries 

 and sometimes on the ends of the tail feathers. Usually 

 they are very quiet and sedate in their actions and are al- 

 ways quite silent ; in fact their only note is a lisping, high- 

 pitched "tsee", often repeated, but in such a soft, hissing 

 tone as to be audible for but a short distance. Except dur- 

 ing the nesting season, which occurs early in July,later than 

 most other birds, they are to be found in small companies. 

 Birds frequently feed their mates, but Waxwings are even 

 more chivalrous, for they feed not only their own mates, 

 but have been observed when a number were in a cherry 

 tree, to pass fruit about from one to another several times 

 before it was finally eaten. 



The Shrike family comprises many species, most of which 

 inhabit the Old World. Only two species are found in 

 North America, and both of these are at times seen in our 



