The Cedar Waxwing 177 



a vireo which passed the nest, the waxwing- flying at the 

 vireo rapidly and uttering" a single note. At 8 :38 the wax- 

 wing flew back to the nest, whereupon the second bird left 

 it, and two minutes later flew to a tree close by, and noticing 

 a string caught around a tree about three yards from the 

 nest, it pulled the string with its bill very vigorously for a 

 minute. Two minutes later the first bird, which had returned 

 to the nest, came to assist it. They both took holds and 

 pulled repeatedly at different points. Three minutes later 

 they had released the string and the first bird brought it to 

 the nest. The string was over a yard long and there was 

 some difficulty in getting it to the nest, as it was twisted 

 around a small limb. The second bird was on the nest 

 waiting for the string and when it was brought, wove it 

 into place. At nine o'clock a third waxwing appeared, but 

 was chased away by the first bird, which flew rapidly at it 

 several times. Five minutes later both birds left the nest and 

 the first bird tried to loosen a piece of string which had been 

 brought to the tree at an earlier time and was caught around 

 a limb. It took hold of the string at several points, but was 

 unable to remove it. At 9 -.07 both birds flew off. The first one 

 flew to a ten rope about thirty feet away. It stood on the rope 

 and tried to seize the fibres and loosen them. The second 

 bird left the nest and also tried to loosen fibres. Both flew 

 then to the top of the rope, where it was frayed. They pulled 

 out some fibres, which they took back to the nest, where the 

 second bird wove the fibres into the nest. A hermit thrush 

 approached and the first bird flew towards it rapidly, where- 

 upon the thrush flew away. 



We were at the nest from 11 :30 until 12 A. M., but the birds 

 did no work. It was rainy and warm. We were there again 

 from 3 :00-3 :30 P. M. At 3 :20 the second bird flew to the 

 nest and turned around several times. It flew to the rope and 

 pecked at the end, but flew away again. 



July 14, 8:00-8:30 A. M. 

 The first waxwing flew to a tree about ten feet away. It 



