LAND BIRDS. 557 
as early as any he has known; his collection, however, included one set 
of eggs taken in Kalamazoo county May 3, 1877, in an orchard tree twelve 
feet from the ground. Mr. Swales, of Grosse Isle, is of the opinion that 
certain individual birds may prefer orchards for nesting and that these 
breed during June, while others, which prefer uncultivated regions, nest 
much later, even into September. According to his notes the Cedar-birds 
arrive in the vicinity of Detroit from March 11 (1890) to April 8 (1895), 
and leave for the south about the middle of October. 
Apparently they do not nest so abundantly in the southern part of the 
state as farther north, and about the cedar and tamarack swamps in the 
northern part of the state they are one of the most abundant and character- 
istic birds during late summer. Here they may be seen in small flocks 
perched on the dead branches of isolated trees, from which they make 
continual sallies for passing insects, of which the bulk of their food seems 
to consist. They, however, eat large quantities of wild fruits, being 
particularly fond of raspberries, blueberries, service-berries (Amelanchier) 
and Buffalo berries (Shepherdia canadensis). They also relish all kinds 
of wild cherries, even eating the choke-cherry freely. The attacks on 
cultivated cherries are too well known to need extended mention, yet it 
should be noted that the bird prefers the earliest cherries and even when 
most abundant and destructive is not nearly so serious an enemy as the 
common Robin. It also eats cultivated currants, raspberries, blackberries 
and mulberries, but not, in our experience, to any injurious extent. 
On the other hand, we have no bird which is more valuable to the horti- 
culturist as an insect eater, for it not only eats insects freely and at all 
seasons when they are obtainable, but it seems to be partial to many of the 
forms which are specially injurious to the farmer and fruit grower. Thus 
it eats caterpillars of many kinds, and, as Prof. Forbes and others have 
shown, it sometimes almost confines itself to a diet of canker-worms when 
these are unusually abundant. In one orchard which Prof. Forbes studied 
carefully a flock of about thirty apparently took up their residence and fed 
freely on canker-worms. The number in each stomach, determined by 
actual count, ranged from 70 to 101, and was usually about 100. These 
thirty birds were therefore eating the pests at the rate of at least 3,000 a 
day, or 90,000 in the month during which the caterpillar is exposed to their 
attacks.* Study of the stomach contents of 152 Cedar-birds by the 
Ornithological Division of the U. 5S. Department of Agriculture, showed 
that 74 percent of the food consisted of wild fruits, 13 percent of cultivated 
fruits (only 5 percent being cherries), and the remainder of insects, largely 
grasshoppers, bugs, bark-lice and beetles, the elm-leaf beetle appearing 
as an important item. 
During spring and early summer the Cedar-bird appears to be very fond 
of blossoms, and especially of the stamens, of many trees, particularly 
fruit trees. We have seen it frequently eating the stamens of apple, pear, 
cherry, oak, maple and ash, and it doubtless eats stamens of many other 
varieties, but there is no reason to suppose that any damage whatever 
is done in this way. 
This is one of the birds which for fifty years has suffered continually from 
the demand for its plumage by milliners, and even today Cedar-birds are 
common “hat birds” wherever legislation does not prevent their use. 
Their convenient size, beautiful plumage and gregarious habits, permitting 
*Report Mich. State Hort. Soc., 1881, p. 204. 
+F. E. L. Beal, Farmers’ Bull. No. 54, p. 32. 
