256 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



shot many years ago, both "in Mercer county." Mr. T. M. Trippe re- 

 cords a pair "observed" in the vicinity of Orange, April 28th, 1867. x 



So rare is this bird in New Jersey that its only claim to a place in 

 the avifauna of the State rests entirely upon the above statements. 

 None have been seen for at least forty years, and even the specimens 

 mentioned above cannot be verified, as they were not taken by their 

 recorders. It is not clear that Mr. Trippe was the one who "observed" 

 the birds he records, while the date given seems hardly possible, and 

 we are in doubt whether Dr. Abbott's two statements refer to the same 

 birds or not. 



619 Bombycilla cedrorum Vieillot. 

 Cedar Waxwing, Cedar-bird. 



PLATE 68. 



Adults. Length, 6.50-7.50. Wing, 3.75. Above, soft grayish olive-brown, 

 more pinkish on the head, which has an erectile crest ; rump, gray ; wings and 

 tail, blackish, shaded and edged with gray ; tail with a broad terminal band of 

 bright yellow on all the feathers ; secondary wing feathers with curious bright 

 red elongations of the shafts resembling tips of sealing wax ; tail feathers and 

 primaries occasionally bearing similar appendages ; breast and throat, pinkish- 

 brown, like the crown ; abdomen, pale olive-yellow ; crissum, white ; a jet 

 black band across the forehead and through the eye, narrowly bordered with 

 white across the forehead and below from the base of the bill ; chin, black. 



Young in first summer. Similar, but grayer, and broadly streaked with olive- 

 brown on the sides, breast and flanks. 



The development of the wax-like tips is independent of age or sex, though 

 they are less frequently found in the young and females. 



Nest of grass, shreds of bark, etc., and usually with some mud in its com- 

 position, placed in a tree ten to thirty feet from the ground ; eggs, three to five, 

 light drab or blue-gray, spotted with black, .85 x .60. 



Common summer resident and of irregular occurrence in winter. 

 Apparently breeds more abundantly in the northern counties. 



The Cedarbird is most familiar to us in the great flocks which sweep 

 down into the cherry trees in June, with faint wheezy notes that are 

 hard to describe and have more the quality of an insect note than of 

 bird music. At this season, when most birds are busy raising families, 

 they are intent on feeding with apparently no thought of nest or young. 

 Before the month is over the flocks drift away again, leaving only a 



1 Amer. Nat., II., p. 380. 



