72 BIRDS OF THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD. 



abode is among the junipers. From these, when rambling 

 in the woods, you will often start a flock ; for they are 

 easily alarmed on account of the pertinacity with which 

 they have been hunted. It is seldom we see one bird of 

 this species, without at least six or eight more in its com- 

 pany. Their habit of assembling in small flocks renders 

 them more liable to be extirpated ; for those who would 

 grudge a charge of powder and shot for the flesh of a sin- 

 gle bird are delighted to shoot into a flock, when perhaps 

 six or eight little tender birds will fa;ll to the ground. 



The Cedar-Bii-d is remarkable for the elegance of its 

 shape ; and though the colors of its plumage are not brill- 

 iant, they are exceedingly fine and delicate. Its general 

 color above is a reddish- brown, slightly tinged with olive; 

 somewhat brighter on the breast, dark in the throat, tail 

 tipped with yellow, forehead with a black line over the 

 eyes, and little scarlet beads upon the outer wing-feathers, 

 resembling dots of red sealing-wax. 



THE INDIGO-BIRD. 



Some of the earliest nests I discovered in my boyhood 

 were those of the Indigo-Bird, of which, for several suc- 

 cessive years, there were two or three in a grove of young 

 locust-trees near the building where I attended school. 

 Hence I have always associated this bird with the locust- 

 tree. Every one admires the beauty of the Indigo-Bird, — 

 its plumage of dark-blue, with green reflections when in 

 a certain light. Its color is not that of the Bluebird ; 

 but more nearly resembles a piece of indigo, being 

 almost a blue-black. Though it never comes very 

 near our windows, it does not appear to be shy, and it 

 prefers the trees of our gardens and enclosures to those 

 of the forest. When the breeding season is over, the old 

 birds probably retire to the woods ; for, after the young 

 have taken flight, they are seldom seen. 



