( 494 ) 

 CEDAR BIRD. 



BOMBYCILLA CAROLINENSIS, BrISS. 

 PLATE XLIII. Vol. I. p. 227. 



I AM informed by Dr Townsend that this species is found about 

 the Columbia River, where he procured specimens. Dr Richardson 

 speaks of it as not having been observed to the north of the 54th pa- 

 rallel. Mr DfiUMMOND saw several small flocks on the south branch 

 of the Saskatchewan, on the 27th of June. I found it very numerous 

 in the Texas, in the early part of May. It is known to breed from 

 Maryland to Nova Scotia, but none were seen by me in Labrador or 

 Newfoundland. Dr Bkewer has sent me the following note respecting 

 it. " This is almost, if not quite, the only one of our birds to which 

 Wilson has been guilty of injustice. He has branded it as a thief, 

 and denied it the possession of any redeeming quality. That it does 

 not sing I admit, but that it is not deserving of our protection is not 

 true. I forbear entering any plea in its behalf on account of the beauty 

 of its plumage, or its bold defence of its young, which I can attest from 

 actual observation, but I must commend it for the benefit which it con- 

 fers, in this part of the country, on the farmer, by destroying thousands 

 of the destructive cankerworm. I have watched it for hours together 

 feasting on that deadly enemy to oiu- orchards. It is very abundant, 

 but does not breed until July. The eggs do not vary much in colour. 

 It remains all the year round at Boston, and breeds abundantly in the 

 orchards." The length of the egg is 9 twelfths, its breadth 7 twelfths. 



In a male preserved in spirits, the roof of the mouth is slightly 

 concave anteriorly, with three slight longitudinal ridges; the palate 

 covered with small papillae ; the posterior aperture of the nares linear- 

 oblong, 4 twelfths in length, with the margin papillate ; the tongue 4 

 twelfths long, triangular, sagittate and papillate at the base, concave 

 above, the tip horny, deeply slit, with two slender points. The width of 

 the mouth is 5^ twelfths. "The oesophagus, abcd,\.s2 inches 9 twelfths 

 long, its width at the commencement 5 twelfths ; it is presently en- 

 larged to 7 twelfths, and increases to 8 twelfths, of which width it 

 continues to the lower part of the neck, where it contracts to 3 twelfths ; 



