THE CEDAR BIRD, OR CHATTERER. 267 



Some authors place its residence in Central Asia, upon the elevated table-land of that 

 region, others think that it builds in Tartary, others place its home in the eastern parts of 

 Northern Europe, others in the Arctic regions, while Dr. Richardson believes that it may be 

 traced to America : "The mountainous nature of the country skirting the Northern Pacific 

 Ocean being congenial to the habits of this species, it is probably more generally diffused in 

 New Caledonia and the Russian-American territories, than to the westward of the Rocky 

 Mountain chain. It appears in flocks at Great Bear Lake about the twenty-fifth of May, when 

 the spring thaw has exposed the berries of the Alpine arbutus, marsh vaccinium, etc., that 

 have been frozen and covered during winter. It stays only for a few days, and none of the 

 Indians of that quartea, with whom I conversed, had seen its nest ; but I have reason to 

 believe that it retires in the breeding season to the rugged and secluded mountain-limestone 

 district in the sixty-seventh and sixty-eighth parallels, where it feeds on the fruit of the 

 common juniper which abounds in those places." 



To the foregoing the author of this work has to remark that the bird is common in the 

 eastern parts of North America, where it is called Northern Wax-wing. 



To the northern European countries it only comes in the winter months, although there 

 has been an example of its appearance as early as August. 



In its plumage the Bohemian Wax-wing is a very pretty and striking bird, being as notable 

 for the silken softness of its feathers, as for its pleasingly blended colors and the remarkable 

 appendage from which it derives its popular name. The coloring of the bird is very varied, 

 but may briefly be described as follows : The top of the head and crest are a light soft brown, 

 warming into ruddy chestnut on the forehead. A well-defined band of black passes over the 

 upper base of the beak, and runs round the back of the head, enveloping the eyes on each side, 

 and there is a patch of the same jetty hue on the chin. The general color of the bird is gray- 

 brown, the primary and secondary feathers of the wings and tail are black, tipped with yellow, 

 the primary wing-coverts are tipped with white, and the tertiaries are purplish-brown, also 

 tipped with white. The under surface of the bird is sober gray, and the under tail-coverts are 

 rich ruddy brown. The length of the Waxen Chatterer is about eight inches. 



The flesh of this bird is held in great estimation in the countries where it appears in 

 greatest numbers, and in Norway it is regularly killed and exposed for sale at the average 

 price of one penny. 



A closely allied species is found in America, where it has been taken for a variety of the 

 preceding species, but is clearly distinct from that bird. On account of its fondness for cedar 

 berries, it goes by the popular name of the Cedar Bird, or Chatterer, the latter name being 

 not at all appropriate to this species, as it is one of the most silent of birds, not even raising its 

 voice in the season of love. 



This bird is found in different parts of America, migrating to and fro according to the 

 season of year. Wilson tells us that in the months of July and August it associates together 

 in great flocks, and retires to the hilly parts of the Blue Mountains for the purpose of feeding 

 on the whortleberries which grow in those localities so plentifully that the mountains ai*e 

 covered with them for miles. In October they descend to the lower parts of the country, and 

 there feed on various berries, especially those of the red cedar, which they devour so greedily 

 that no less than fifteen cedar berries have been found in the throat of a single bird. They 

 also eat the fruit of the persimmon, cherries, and many other fruits, and aid greatly in the 

 vegetation of the country by transporting to different localities the seeds of the plants on which 

 they subsist. 



Unlike the Waxen Chatterer, the Cedar Bird carries with it no mystery respecting its 

 dwelling-place, but openly builds in the month of June upon various trees, sometimes choosing 

 the cedar, and at other times fixing on different orchard trees. 



Wilson makes the following remarks upon the nest and general habits of the bird during 

 the breeding season: ''The nest is large for the size of the bird, fixed in the forked or 

 horizontal branch of an apple-tree, ten or twelve feet from the ground : outwardly and at 

 bottom is laid a mass of coarse, dry, stalks of grass, and the inside is lined wholly with very 



