THE CEDAR BIRD. 



EVERY country boy knows the Cedar 

 Bird. It is with us ahnost all the 

 year round, and most of the time in great 

 flocks. And if any one has ever held one 

 in his hand, no doubt he has admired the 

 soft delicate brown silky plumage, the point- 

 ed crest, the velvety black about the eye, the 

 yellow band across the end of the tail, and 

 the curious little outgrowths, looking like 

 red sealing-wax, which are attached to the 

 ends of some of the wing and tail feathers. 



The Cedar Bird has no song and no gaudy 

 colors, yet he is, from the delicacy and soft- 

 ness of his plumage, one of our most beau- 

 tiful birds. From the fact that these birds 

 are usually found in large flocks, and from 

 their tameness and unsuspicious character, 

 they fall an easy prey to the bird butcher. 

 The discharge of a gun loaded with fine shot 

 will often kill a dozen at a time, and during 

 the craze for feather ornamentation which 

 has raged so during the past few years, the 

 Cedar Bird has been among the commonest 

 species seen on women's hats. 



Although a few Cedar Birds may be found 

 throughout the winter in New York and 

 southern New England, by far the greater 

 number of these interesting birds retire, on 

 the approach of winter, to the Southern 

 States, some going even as far south as 

 Mexico. In the early spring they journey 

 northward again, and spend the summer in 

 the Northern States and in Canada. Al- 

 though among the earliest birds to reach 

 their summer home in spring, they are al- 

 most the latest to breed, and often it is the 

 last of June before they set about building 

 their simple nests. These are usually flat, 

 and formed of twigs, lined with black, fib- 

 rous roots, and are often placed in an apple 

 tree within 12 or 15 feet of the ground, and 

 usually without any attempt at concealment. 

 The four eggs are of a livid white or pale 

 clay color, marked with black spots, which 



are usually largest and most numerous to- 

 ward the larger end. The female broods 

 her eggs for fifteen or sixteen days, at the 

 end of which time the young appear. At 

 first the mother feeds them on smooth cater- 

 pillars, like the canker worm, and on other 

 soft insects, but as they grow older, small 

 fruits and berries form a large portion of 

 their diet. 



When the nest of the Cedar Bird is ap- 

 proached, the parents make no outcry, nor 

 do they attempt, as do most birds, to defend 

 it or frighten away the intruder. If the fe- 

 male be on the nest, she flies away to a little 

 distance and remains quiet, patiently await- 

 ing the departure of the disturber of her 

 home. 



The Cedar Bird is very fond of fruit, and 

 for a considerable portion of the year lives 

 almost exclusively on berries. It feeds on 

 cherries — whence its name Cherry Bird — 

 on the berries of the holly, mountain ash, 

 persimmon, dogwood, bittersweet and cedar, 

 and will often so gorge itself with these as 

 to be almost unable to fly. In captivity this 

 eagerness for food is still manifested, and 

 Audubon instances a case where some of 

 these birds confined in a cage fed so vora- 

 ciously on apples that in a few days they 

 died of suffocation. 



In spring and summer, before the ripen- 

 ing of the fruits and berries, the Cedar Bird 

 plays a most useful part, devouring insects 

 in great numbers. It is an expert flycatcher, 

 and may often be seen perched upon a dead 

 twig near the top of some tall tree, from 

 which it makes its graceful and successful 

 sallies after the different insects passing 

 near it. It is very fond of the canker worm, 

 which is often such a pest in our orchards 

 and to our elms; and this bird is said by 

 Dr. Merriam to be almost the only one that 

 feeds largely on these creatures. 



The Cedar Bird is remarkable for its gen- 



