CEDAR BIRD. 229 



nestles less frequently in the low lands than it does in the upper parts of the 

 country, preferring the immediate neighbourhood of mountains. These 

 birds are more careful of themselves during the intrusion of strangers to 

 their nest, than perhaps any other species, and sneak off, in a very unpa- 

 rental manner, quite out of sight, without ever evincing the least appear- 

 ance of sorrow on the occasion. I have not been able to ascertain whe- 

 ther they raise more than one brood in a season. 



When wounded by a shot, they fall to the ground as if dead, and re-> 

 main there in a stiffened posture, as if absolutely stupid. When taken 

 up in the hand, they merely open their bill, without ever attempting to 

 bite, and wiU suffer a person to carry them in the open hand, without 

 endeavouring to make off. Their crest at such times is laid flat and 

 close to the head. It is lowered or raised at the will of the bird, but 

 more usually stands erect. Their plumage is silky. The females do 

 not exhibit the waxen appendages on the wings so soon as the males ; but 

 these appendages form no criterion as to the sex. I have seen males and 

 females with them, both at the extremities of the scapulars and tail- 

 feathers, seldom more than two or three attached to the latter, whilst 

 there were five or six at the former. Very few of these birds remain the 

 whole winter in the Middle States. 



Now, kind reader, can you give a reason why these birds are so tardy 

 in laying their eggs and rearing their young ? It cannot be through 

 want of fruit for the food of their progeny, as the young birds, being at 

 first fed on insects, might continue to be so, at a season when these 

 abound, and as the old birds themselves evince pleasure at seizing them 

 on the wing on all occasions. 



BoMBYCiLLA CAROLiNENSis, Br'xss. vol. ii. p. 337-— CA. Bo7iaparte, Synops. of Birds 



of the United States, p. 59. 

 Ampelis garrulus, var. Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 291.— Lath. Ind. Ornith. 



vol. i. p. 364. 

 Chatterer of Carolina, Lath. Synops. vol. iii. p. 93. 

 Cedar Bird, Ampelis Americana, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. i. p. 107. Fig. 1. 



Adult Male. Plate XLIII. Fig. 1. 



Bill short, straightish, broader than deep at the base, compressed to- 

 wards the end ; upper mandible convex in its dorsal outline, with the 

 edges sharp, overlapping, and marked with a notch close upor the decli- 



