82 BIRDS 



to some other place •v^here their favorite fruit abounds. 

 Happily, they care very little about our cultivated fruit 

 and rarely touch it. A good way to invite many kinds of 

 birds to visit one's neighborhood is to plant plenty of 

 berry-bearing trees and shrubs. The birds themselves 

 plant most of the wild ones, by dropping the undigested 

 seeds far and wide. How could the seeds of many species 

 be distributed over thousands of miles of land without 

 their help? Cedarbirds are responsible for no small part 

 of the beaut;^ of the lanes and hedgerows throughout their 

 wide range from sea to sea and from Canada to Mexico and 

 Central America. Nature makes her creatures work 

 for her, whether they know they are helping her plans or 

 not. 



When a flock of cedarbirds enters a neighborhood, there 

 is no noisy warning of their coming. Gentle, refined in 

 manners, courteous to one another, almost silent visitors, 

 they sit for hours nearly motionless in a tree while digesting 

 a recent feast. An occasional bird may shift his position, 

 then, politely settling himself again without disturbing the 

 rest of the company, remain quiet as before. Lisping, 

 twee-twee-zee call-notes, like a hushed whispered whistle, 

 are the only sounds the visitors make. How different from 

 a roving flock of screaming, boisterous blue jays! 



When rising to take wing, the squad stiU keeps together, 

 flying evenly and swiftly in close ranks on a level with the 

 tree-tops along a straight com-se; or, wheeling suddenly, 

 the birds dive downward into a promising, leafy restaur- 

 ant. Enormous numbers of insects are consumed by a 

 flock. The elm-beetle, which destroys the beauty, if not 

 the life, of some of our finest shade trees, would be exter- 

 minated if there were cedarbirds enough. One flock 



