BIRDS OF THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD. 91 



notes, uttered in so low a tone that it would be almost 

 inaudible, even at a short distance. It became perfectly- 

 contented in confinement, and appeared fond of such 

 members of the family as noticed it." He says of this 

 species as proof of their devotion to one another and their 

 offspring : " Once when one had been taken in a net 

 spread over strawberries, its mate refused to leave it, 

 suffered itself to be taken by the hand in its anxiety to 

 free its mate, and, when set at liberty, would not leave 

 until its mate had also been released and permitted to go 

 with it." 



According to Nuttall, during the mating season, they 

 are always caressing each other like Turtle Doves. There 

 is a manifestation of- mutual fondness between these 

 social birds. A friend assured him that he had seen one 

 among a row of them seize an insect and offer it to its 

 next neighbor, who passed it to the next, each politely 

 declining the offer, until it had passed backwards and for- 

 wards several times. 



The Cedar-Bird is not exclusively frugivorous. In the 

 spring and early summer, before the berries are ripe, it 

 feeds wholly upon insects and their larvte. As a compen- 

 sation for the mischief done by the bird and its fellows 

 among the fruit-trees, they destroy vast numbers of can- 

 ker-worms, taking them when they are very small and 

 nestled in the flower-cup of the apple-tree. The ex- 

 cessive multiplication of the canker-worm seems a di- 

 rect consequence of the proportional diminution of this 

 and a few other valuable though mischievous species. 

 Those cultivators who would gladly extirpate the boys 

 as well as the birds, taking care to save boys enough to 

 kill the birds, might, instead of persecuting the Cedar-Bird, 

 find it more profitable in the end to pay a tax for its pres- 

 ervation. 



This bird is very fond of the juniper. Its usual 



