106 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OP MICHIGAN. 



Mr. Levi Broas has several in his collection, which he took in Ionia County; 

 " seen in early spring at Bay City in 1884" (N. A. Eddy, in O. and O., Vol. IX, 

 1884, p. 41); Dr. Atkins took this bird at Locke several times in March and once 

 in April; E. L. Moseley reports two from Michigan; "four seen in Kent County, 

 April 4, 1889" (S. E. White); "often exceedingly abundant in Northern Michigan" 

 (H. Nehrling); "several flocks seen at Charlevoix in the fall several years since" (M. L. 

 Leach); "Upper Peninsula" (A. H. Boies); "Keweenaw Point" (Kneeland); "Traverse 

 City " (M. L. Leach). "Has been taken in southern Indiana several times " (A. W. 

 Butler). 



Cedar Bird, natural size. 



261-619-(167). Ampelis cedrorum (Vieill). * CEDAR BIRD; CEDAR WAX-WING; 



CHERRY BIRD. 



Very common; throughout the State; April to August; not rare in winter; 

 embraced in Cabot's Birds of Lake Superior; -'common at Iron Mountain" (E. E. 

 Brewster); "Keweenaw Point" (Kneeland); migrates frequently for short distances; in 

 flocks; breeds; nests in bushes, trees of the orchard or woodland, etc., in July and 

 August; eggs four to six, light drab or clay white, specked with black and brown; eats 

 cherries, apple blossoms, berries and insects, "eats three thousand canker worms daily" 

 (Forbes report Michigan State Horticultural Society, 1881, p. 204); "I have seen them 

 feeding extensively on canker worms" (Prof. C. A. Davis); "eat elm beetles and many 

 other insects " (Dr. A. K. Fisher). From a preliminary report by F. E. L. Beat for the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, manuscript kindly loaned to me, I find that 

 125 stomachs of these birds from 14 states were examined. The conclusions reached 

 were these: 1st, that the Cedar Birds eat a certain amount of insect food at all times, 

 when it can be obtained, aggregating in this case Yl% of the food for the whole year; 

 2d, that the greatest amount of insect food is eaten during the month when fruit is the 

 most abundant; 3d, that the greatest number of insects is eaten in the month of May, 

 with a decrease, during the succeeding months until September, when the percentage 

 again rises; 4th, that the young, while in the nest, are fed to a great extent upon insect 

 food; eats mountain-ash berries, etc., in winter. These beautiful birds do not seem to 

 be exclusively insectivorous, and a flock will destroy an immense number of cherries; 

 Dr. M. Gibbs writes me that he has reared the young, taken from the nests, entirely 

 on fruit. 



