292 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



This specimen of mine is very dainty about his plumage, and 

 when hopping across the floor of his cage to reach his drinking- 

 cup, he goes by short leaps, holding his tail erect in a very pecu- 

 liar manner. As is well known, they have no true note, and it is 

 only occasionally, in a cage, that they give vent to their charac- 

 teristic shrillish lisp, that may be easily heard and quickly recog- 

 nized at some little distance away. He is very fond of sitting 

 quietly on his perch, and fluffing himself up to enjoy a sun bath; 

 at which time he slowly erects and lowers his beautiful crest, 

 occasionally uttering a low lisp, with the intention of calling 

 such others of his species as may be in the neighborhood. 



Cedar birds are distributed over North America at large, and 

 are known in various localities by different names. They are 

 widely known, for example, as Cedar Waxwings, or simply Wax- 

 w r ings, from the peculiar growths found upon the terminal ends 

 of the shafts of the secondary feathers of the wings, and fre- 

 quently ornamenting the tail feathers in a similar manner. On 

 a wing these appear like small, graduated, elongated scales of 

 red sealing wax, but really are a modification and development 

 of the feather shaft. By some they are supposed to protect the 

 ends of the secondaries when the bird is fluttering in the dense 

 foliage of the cedar trees after its food; but I am of the opinion 

 that they serve no such purpose whatever, being merely orna- 

 mental in character. They vary in number from a few to nine, 

 and on the tail they may be minute, or as large as the largest on 

 the wings. Some ornithologists state that they sometimes occur 

 on the primaries of the wings, or even on the inferior tail coverts, 

 but I believe the statement to be erroneous. Both sexes possess 

 them, but they are of more frequent occurrence on the males. 

 During the molt these appendages develop within the " pin- 

 feather," and are of full size when the latter bursts and the 

 feather makes its appearance. In young birds of the first year, if 

 they are present at all, they are white and very minute. 



We have another bird of this genus in our avifauna, and indeed 

 it is distributed over the northern parts of the entire northern 

 hemisphere. This species is the Bohemian Waxwing (AnipcTw 

 garrulus), and though a good deal like our cedar bird in appear- 

 ance, is a much larger form, with white upon its wings, and with 

 some other differences in its plumage. Ampelis phoenicoptertix, of 

 southeastern Siberia and Japan, is a Waxwing that resembles the 

 Bohemian, but instead of the yellow tips to the feathers of the 



