246 Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



and sitting absolutely motionless till one would imagine longer 

 endurance impossible." The nest of the waxwing is rather an 

 elaborate affair, but rather loosely made of twigs, grass, root- 

 lets and leaves and lined with finer material. The eggs, vary- 

 ing in number from three to five, are pale gray or with a 

 slight tinge of green, and thinly spotted with purplish black 

 and light dull purplish. Herrick says the food of the nestlings 

 consists of "choke-cherries and red bird-cherries, varied with 

 raspberries, blackberries and blue berries, together with in- 

 sects, which during the last days of life at the nest constitutes 

 about one-quarter of the fare." 



Professor King says : "These birds are exceedingly hardy 

 and voracious and for this reason have become adopted to a 

 wide range of food. During the early spring and summer they 

 are said to feed almost exclusively upon insects, and during the 

 last of July and August they feed to a considerable extent 

 upon them. They are dexterous fly catchers, and when in the 

 woods they labor in a field peculiar to themselves. They 

 often station themselves upon the topmost 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 the woods 

 they often fly out six or more rods for passing insects. Be- 

 sides being fly catchers they search among the foliage of the 

 trees for larvae of various kinds." Professor Forbes has shown 

 that in an orchard infested with canker worms the most useful 

 bird was the cedar waxwing, about thirty of which had appar- 

 ently taken up their residence in the orchard and were feed- 

 ing entirely upon the worms. The number in each stomach, 

 determined by actual count, ranged from seventy to one hun- 

 dred and one, and it was usually one hundred. These thirty 

 birds were, therefore, eating the pests at the rate of three thou- 

 sand a day, or ninety thousand for the month during which 

 the caterpillars were exposed to their attack. 



Many years ago John King, a colored boy, lived with us. 

 One evening, after I had returned from the office, he brought 

 to my study a dead bird which he had found in the alley. It 

 had not been dead long, for it was yet warm and limp. It was 



