WAXWINGS 505 



one or another of these ^owths offering in any one locality sufficient food 

 for the season. The Cedar Waxwing appears in winter chiefly in the val- 

 leys and lower foothills; but Mr. Donald D. McLean recorded the species 

 at Smith Creek (east of Coulterville) on January 31, 1917, and he says 

 further that it has been seen commonly there in winter and spring of 

 some years. A small flock was seen feeding on mistletoe berries in the top 

 of a tall incense cedar in Yosemite Valley on September 28, 1920, by 

 Mr. C. W. Michael (MS). The birds noted at Snelling and Mono Lake 

 Post Office in late May were probably late migrants bound northward ; for 

 the species is not known to nest in the Sierra Nevada. 



It is the usual habit of 'Cedar Birds' to travel in flocks of 25 to 50 

 individuals. A flock will visit some heavily fruiting plant ; the individual 

 birds will gorge themselves to satiety, and then rest on perches during the 

 action of their digestive processes, until, presently, they may indulge in 

 further feeding. Mistletoe berries are an important article of their diet 

 in the hill countr3^ Many of the berries eaten by Cedar Birds are retained 

 only long enough to enable the digestive juices to dissolve the outer layers. 

 Then the resistant or indigestible central portion, which in the berry of 

 the pepper tree has a hot and disagreeable taste, is disgorged. 



When feeding, the birds are very active, clinging to slender twigs so 

 as to reach the berries, sometimes hanging inverted in chickadee-fashion, 

 twisting, fluttering, making short flights to regain a lost perch, and occa- 

 sionally uttering their shrill hissing notes. If disturbed while feeding, 

 they fly off swiftly, in close formation and in undulating course, low over 

 the trees, and utter their unique notes in chorus as they go. 



Phainopepla. Phainopepla nitens (Swainson) 



Field characters. — Body size slightly greater than that of Linnet, but tail longer 

 than body; head crested. Male: Whole plumage black; in flight a large patch of white 

 shows conspicuously on middle of spread wing. Female: Dark grayish brown; wing 

 patch present but obscure. Flight slow, vacillating. Voice: Song of male a rather 

 weak wheezy warble, rambling and intermittent in delivery, interspersed with clear 

 notes; call note a single, low-pitched whistle. 



Occurrence. — ^Eesident in small numbers in Upper Sonoran Zone at west base of 

 Sierra Nevada. Frequents blue-oak belt, staying about clumps of mistletoe and other 

 berry-producing plants. Solitary or in pairs. 



The Phainopepla is typically a bird of the hot arid southwest and 

 occurs in large numbers in southern California; yet it is also to be found 

 regularly in certain localities along the west base of the Sierra Nevada. 

 Since we found it at Pleasant Valley in May and November of 1915, and 

 near Coulterville in August, 1920, it seems likely that the species is resi- 

 dent, though in limited numbers, within the Yosemite section. 



