BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 359 
Mr. F. L. Washburn, whose observations in the Red river 
valley have been of great value to me, says: ‘‘About the mid- 
dle of August there is present, flying over the sloughs and 
ponds, (in the region of the Thief river, &c), a small gauze-like, 
transparent, white fly, a species of coleoptera, of which the 
Cedar Bird is apparently very fond. For almost half an hour 
I watched six of these birds, constantly on the wing, hovering 
over a slough and catching quantities of these insects. They 
seemed never to grow tired, but flew slowly against the wind, 
deviating now a little to this side, now to that, until they reached 
the end of the slough, when back they came to repeat the same 
maneuvre and go over the same ground again and again. Oc- 
casionally they uttered the characteristic note of the species, 
but for the most part flew silently. During the time I stood 
watching them they did not once rest. These birds are also 
partial to the black currants which are found in the woods at 
this season.” 
They arrive in considerable flocks about the 1st of April, 
some years a month earlier in the lower counties, and not very 
infrequently two weeks later than the average date first men- 
tioned. Occasions are not wanting where a few individuals 
have lingered all winter. Soon after the 1st of May the larger 
flocks are subdivided, until only pairs remain together, and 
they build their nests on a horizontal limb of different species 
of trees in the pasture, about the house or in the timber. It 
consists of stalks of weeds, strips of bark, leaves, grass, fine 
roots, etc. Deeply hollowed, it is lined with fine grass, roots 
and horse hairs. They usually lay five light bluish eggs with 
a shade of purple or brown, and marked somewhat with black 
spots and obscure spots of brown. They raise two broods. 
I have found them in considerable numbers as late as the 
16th of December, but they usually leave this latitude by the 
1st of November in considerable parties, skirting the timber 
belts in the direction they take. No bird without a song 
should be more welcome to the general or special agriculturist 
than the beautiful Cedar Bird. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Head crested; general color reddish-olive, passing on the 
neck, head and breast, into purplish-cinnamon, posteriorly on 
the upper parts, into ash, and on the lower into yellow; under 
tail coverts white; chin dark sooty-black, fading ins ensibly 
into the ground color on the throat; forehead, loral region, 
space below the eye and a line above it, intense black; quills 
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