38 THE BIEDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



of the tail chestnut. The legs and feet are black. 



The location of the nest depends altogether on the 

 treatment the bird receives; if treated kindly the nest 

 will be found in the hlac bush, on the piazza or in some 

 bush near the house; if it is driven away the nest will be 

 found in the thickest brush of the woods. Its nest is 

 built of twigs, grasses, leaves and small roots. It gener- 

 ally has two broods a year. The eggs are from three to 

 five in number, of a rich green blue, one inch by seven- 

 tenths of an inch in size. 



The birds breed throughout the United States, coming to 

 New Jersey about the first of May and returning south- 

 ward about the middle of October; a few stragglers some- 

 times pass the winter here. 



It would be almost impossible to describe the song of 

 the bird, as it is generally composed of the notes of other 

 birds and consequently varies with locality. Its call is a 

 rasping feline note, like the mewiag of a cat. Its note of 

 alarm sounds something like zeay, zeay. 



Grovernment reports of the examination of 213 stom- 

 achs indicate that one-thirds of its food is insects, one- 

 third wUd fruits and one-third cultivated fruits. Among 

 insects it prefers beetles, ants, caterpillars, crickets and 

 grasshoppers in the order named. 



Cat Owl, See Long- eared Owl. 



Cedarbird, Cedar Waximng, or Cherry Bird. 



— Length, seven inches ; extent, eleven inches ; bill, one- 

 fourth of an inch ; head dark fawn, crested ; back, dark 

 fawn ; breast, light blue ; belly, yellowish ; sides and tail, 

 bluish gray ; wing, a deep slate with a little fawn and 

 white, tipped with small red appendages like sealing wax 

 on the ends of several of the quills ; legs and feet, black. 

 The red tips are independent of sex and age ; some birds 

 have them, some do not. 



The nest is from five to twenty feet from the ground in 



