294 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE . 



catching insects. It is an expert fly catcher, and may 

 oftqn be seen perched upon a dead twig near the top 

 of some tall tree from which it makes its graceful and 

 successful flights after the different insects passing 

 near. In this way it repays more than twenty fold 

 for the cherries it later on devours. 



The cedar birds are noted for their extreme socia- 

 bility and even fondness for their kind. They are 

 among the few birds which appear to be permanently 

 gregarious, i. e., always found in flocks. They build 

 their nests very late in the season, sometimes not till 

 the middle of July, and are seen in flo.cks up to that 

 time. Several nests are often constructed in the same 

 tree and usually all those of the same flock are built 

 within the compass of a few rods. The nest is a 

 bulky structure composed of many materials, such as 

 bark, roots, twigs, paper, rags and twine, and lined 

 with the finer grasses, hair and wool. The eggs are 

 three to six in number and are slate brown marked 

 with many purple or dark brown blotches. 



The sociability of these birds is kept up during the 

 five or six weeks that they are held in one locality by 

 the care of their young and when the latter are ready 

 to leave the nest they remain with their parents. 



On a recent January morn my attention was 

 attracted to a flock of birds which was continually 

 flying from some trees to the margin of a small pond 

 and back again. I moved slowly towards them and 

 found them to be cedar birds which were feeding upon 

 the fruit of the hackberry, Celtis occidentalis L. They 

 were working rapidly and tearing at the berries so 

 eagerly that as many fell to the ground as were eaten. 



