154 SINGING BIRDS. 



CEDAR WAXWING. 



cedar bird. cherry bird. 



Ampelis cedrorum. 



ChAr. Prevailing color cinnamon brown or fawn color, changing to 

 ashy on rump and yellowish on the belly ; chin and line across forehead 

 and through eyes, rich black; wings and tail slaty; tail tipped with yel- 

 low ; secondaries sometimes with red, wax-like appendages. Head with 

 long, pointed crest. Length 6^ to tY^ inches. 



Nest. In a tree ; large and loosely made of twigs and grass, lined with 

 grass, hair, or feathers. 



Eggs. 3-5 ; bluish white spotted with lilac and brown ; 0.85 X 0.60. 



This common native wanderer, which in summer extends its 

 migrations to the remotest unpeopled regions of Canada, is 

 also found throughout the American continent to Mexico, and 

 parties even roam to the tropical forests of Cayenne. In all this 

 extensive geographical range, where great elevation or latitude 

 tempers the climate so as to be favorable to the production 

 of juicy fruits, the Cedar Bird will probably be found either 

 almost wholly to reside, or to pass the season of reproduction. 

 Like its European representative (the Waxen Chatterer) , it is 

 capable of braving a considerable degree of cold ; for in Penn- 

 sylvania and New Jersey some of these birds are seen through- 

 out the winter, where, as well as in the early part of the 

 summer and fall, they are killed and brought to market, gen- 

 erally fat, and much esteemed as food. Silky softness of 

 plumage, gentleness of disposition, innocence of character, 

 extreme sociability, and an innate, inextinguishable love of 

 freedom, accompanied by a constant desire of wandering, are 

 characteristic traits in the physical and moral portrait of the 

 second as well as the preceding species of this peculiar and 

 extraordinary genus. 



Leaving the northern part of the continent, situated beyond 

 the 40th degree, at the approach of winter, they assemble 

 in companies of twenty to a hundred, and wander through the 

 Southern States and Mexico to the confines of the equator, in 



