Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 



Closely associated with the sand martin is the Rough-winged 

 Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis), not to be distinguished 

 from its companion on the wing, but easily recognized by its 

 dull-gray throat and the absence of the brown breast-band when 

 seen at close range. 



Cedar Bird 



(Ampelis cedrorum) Waxwing family 



Called also : CET>kK WAXWING; CHERRY-BIRD; CANADA 

 ROBIN; RECOLLET 



Length — 7 to 8 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin. 



Male — Upper parts rich grayish brown, with plum-colored tints 

 showing through the brown on crest, throat, breast, wings, 

 and tail. A velvety-black line on forehead runs through the 

 eye and back of crest. Chin black ; crest conspicuous ; breast 

 lighter than the back, and shading into yellow underneath. 

 Wings have quill-shafts of secondaries elongated, and with 

 brilliant vermilion tips like drops of sealing-wax, rarely seen 

 on tail quills, which have yellow bands across the end. 



Female — With duller plumage, smaller crest, and narrower tail- 

 band. 



Range — North America, from northern British provinces to Cen- 

 tral America in winter. 



Migrations — A roving resident, without fixed seasons for migrat- 

 ing. 



As the cedar birds travel about in great flocks that quickly 

 exhaust their special food in a neighborhood, they necessarily 

 lead a nomadic life — here to-day, gone to-morrow — and, like the 

 Arabs, they "silently steal away." It is surprising how very 

 little noise so great a company of these birds make at any time. 

 That is because they are singularly gentle and refined; soft of 

 voice, as they are of color, their plumage suggesting a fine Japan- 

 ese water-color painting on silk, with its beautiful sheen and 

 exquisitely blended tints. 



One listens in vain for a song; only a lisping " Twee-twee-^e," 

 or "a dreary whisper," as Minot calls their low-toned commu- 

 nications with each other, reaches our ears from their high perches 

 in the cedar trees, where they sit, almost motionless hours at a 

 time, digesting the enormous quantities of juniper and whortle 



144 



