The Birds and Poets iii 



number of wounds, to get up among the smaller 

 branches, whereupon the female quietly slipped 

 out of the nest. The nest was far out, upon so 

 small a limb that I was just able to look into it 

 by climbing up near the center of the tree and 

 drawing the branches aside. It contained but one 

 egg, pale bluish-gray in color, spotted •yvith umber. 

 The nest was therefore probably begun about the 

 25th of June, as the building usually consumes 

 about four days, and then four eggs are laid in as 

 many days, and the young birds are hatched within 

 two weeks of the time the first egg is laid. 



The nest was a fine, soft structure, composed of 

 strips of bark, grasses, rootlets and moss, and lined 

 with finer materials of the same nature. 



The descent from the thorn apple tree was a 

 good deal like withdrawing an embedded fish- 

 hook. All the thorns in the tree seemed to be 

 headed my way as I backed down between the 

 branches, and, not being able to see and avoid 

 them while making the return trip, the cedar-birds 

 were amply revenged by the good thorn tree for 

 the temporary annoyance to which I had subjected 

 them. 



With the exception of the goldfinch, the cedar- 

 bird nests with us later than any of our birds, 

 seldom beginning to build until about the first of 

 July. No doubt the reason for this is that suit- 

 able food for the young cannot be found earlier 

 in the season, which is also the probable reason 

 for the similar delay in the case of the goldfinch. 



