94 PEARLS AND PEBBLES. 



birds do, but go where they please, stay awhile and then 

 disappear, and you do not meet with them again for 

 several seasons. 



. Besides the gay ornaments of the wing, the tail 

 feathers are finely fringed with golden yellow, which is 

 seen most distinctly when the bird is on the wing 



The berries of the mountain ash and the choke- cherry 

 (and, in winter, the fruit of the red cedar and juniper), 

 form the food of these birds, with what ripe fruit the 

 garden affords them ; but if they eat the fruit they also 

 destroy swarms of destructive insects. 



The cedar bird is accused of destroying the buds of 

 the apple trees, but in all probability this is a mistake. 

 It may be only the hidden larvse of the codlin moth, the 

 curculio, the beetle, or fly, that is dding the real injury, 

 depositing its eggs in the bud ; and the cedar bird in 

 seeking it as his prey is doing much good service in the 

 orchard. 



. Man in his greed is often very short-sighted in his. 

 judgments. 



