54 



The Cedar Bird. 



tleness and trustful innocence. We were 

 once fishing in Pennsylvania, and were 

 quietly wading down the alder-fringed Sho- 

 hola River, holding the light rod before us 

 as the line floated down the current, when 

 suddenly we felt a slight jar on the rod, 

 and were surprised to see a Cedar Bird 

 perched on it within five or six feet of the 

 hand. We made no motion, and the bird 

 sat on its novel perch for some minutes, 

 every now and then taking a short flight to 

 capture an insect, and then returning to 

 the rod. 



The Cedar Birds are noted for their ex- 

 treme sociability and even fondness for their 

 kind. In this respect they seem to resemble 

 the little Australian parroquets known as 

 "love birds." When flying they proceed 

 in close flocks, and seem to wish to be as 

 near to one another as possible. The same 

 thing is seen when they are at rest, for then 

 they sit close to one another, side by side 

 on the branches. They are sometimes seen 

 to fondle and caress each other with their 

 bills, and Nuttall relates a case on the 

 authority of a gentleman whose name he 

 gives, where one bird having darted from 

 his perch and caught an insect, returned 

 with it in his bill and presented it to the 

 bird next to him, who passed it to the next 

 one, by whom it was passed to the next, and 

 so it went up and down the line two or three 

 times, before it was devoured. 



Quite opposed to any such seeming gen- 

 erosity as this, is their conduct when feeding 

 on fruit. At such times they appear to be 

 most voracious, and tear at the berries so 

 eagerly, that as many fall to the ground as 

 are eaten by the birds. Often in the au- 

 tumn a flock of Cedar Birds will settle down 

 upon a mountain ash tree, bright with its 

 clusters of scarlet berries, and they will not 

 leave it until it is entirely stripped of its 

 fruit. 



Aside from the services which the Cedar 

 Bird in common with all insect-eating birds 

 renders to the farmer, he also performs very 



important work as a tree planter. Any one 

 who has followed the tracks of the lumber- 

 man over the timber lands of Pennsylvania, 

 will have observed that wherever the timber 

 has been cleared the wild cherry makes its 

 appearance, sometimes growing in compact 

 forests of thousands of acres in extent. 

 These cherry groves are all planted by Cedar 

 Birds and other fruit-eating birds, which 

 pass the hard carpels or kernels of the 

 cherry, cedar and mountain ash undigested, 

 scattering them all over the forest floor. 

 A young growth springs up and shades the 

 ground, keeps the soil moist, fostering the 

 growth of maple, pine or any other seed 

 which is carried by the wind or other agency 

 into the thicket, until by and by when the 

 cherry trees begin to die down, there is a 

 forest of young trees to replace them, while 

 but for the labors of the birds in planting 

 it, the muck soil dried in the sun would be- 

 come as inflammable as tinder, and liable to 

 catch fire and be entirely consumed, expos- 

 ing a hopelessly barren surface of sand, 

 gravel or rock. 



The Cedar Bird is from six to seven inches 

 in length, and the outspread wings measure 

 from eleven to twelve inches. The plumage 

 throughout is peculiarly silky and smooth. 

 The head is ornamented with a conspicu- 

 ous crest, which can be raised or lowered at 

 pleasure. The body is generally cinnamon 

 color, paling to ashy on the rump and upper 

 tail coverts, becoming darker and richer on 

 the head and fore parts, and running into yel- 

 lowish on the belly and to. white on the under 

 tail coverts. The forehead, a space before 

 the eyes, the chin, and a .stripe behind the 

 eye black; a line along the under mandible 

 and lores, and the eyelid white. The wing 

 quills are slate gray, darker at the tips and 

 pale on the inner sides of the feathers. The 

 tail is tipped with a band of yellow. The 

 tips of some of the wing feathers, and some- 

 times of some of the tail feathers, are orna- 

 mented with little oval flat lamella-like ap- 

 pendages, which resemble red sealing-wax. 



