THE 
NESTS AND EGGS 
OF 
of Ee jVIiclclle ;^tkted. 
Plate I. 
AMPELIS CEDROEUM, Bclatee. 
Cedar-Bird. 
Tfte Cedak-Bied, though mainly a denizen of the wooded regions of 
North America, is occasionally met with in cultivated fields and orchards. 
But, wherever found, it is the same gregarious, nomadic species. 
In the Middle States, after the beginning of October, the search for 
food so comj)letely engrosses the attention, that it is not until the latter 
pai’t of May, or the beginning of June, that the flocks break up into pairs. 
Nidification now becomes the all-absorbing passion, and the birds after 
mating, which business is generally conducted in a quiet and unostentatious 
manner, repair to the woods or hedges in quest of a suitable shrub or tree 
in which to establish a home. This matter requires considerable labor and 
care; and, ordinarily, no little time is devoted thereto. 
The place usually selected, is .a retired and unfrequented thicket or 
nook ; or occasionally, an orchard in close j)roxiniity to an unoccupied 
dwelling. MJien the former, the cedar, with its tall, nearly vertical 
branches and dark green foliage, is, of all our forest-trees, pre-eminently 
