OF THE UNITED STATES 297 



tail and wings, they are red, and the waxy ornaments are ab- 

 sent. 



Cedar birds are also known as cherry birds in some localities, 

 and in other parts as chatterers; this latter name being totally 

 unmerited, as we have but few birds so silent by nature, being 

 almost devoid of either note or song. They say the Cedar bird has 

 lost the desire to sing from the fact that ow 7 ing to its voracious 

 appetite for berries, and its throat being constantly choked with 

 them, no time can be given to any such accomplishment. 



The name chatterer came first to be applied to the Bohemian 

 Waxwing from a misinterpretation of the word garrulus, the spe- 

 cific term of its name. In certain parts of Europe the cinnamon- 

 brown of the Waxwing was a reminder of the somewhat similar 

 color of their Jay (Garrulus glandarimj , a very garrulous bird, to 

 be sure, and a chatterer by nature. Waxwings are crested like 

 Jays, hence its specific name, and hence, too, the confusion and 

 mistranslation and application of its real English meaning. 

 When grouped together the Waxwings constitute the family Arn- 

 pelidce, and they probably see their nearest allies in this country 

 in our Phainopepla (Phaiitopepla nitens), of the southwestern 

 parts of the United States. Bohemian Waxwings — found in 

 northern United States in winter — are extremely erratic birds 

 in their migrations, often visiting certain localities suddenly and 

 in vast numbers. Thirty-five years ago Kennicott found it breed- 

 ing on the Yukon, in Alaska. 



Toward the middle of June the Cedar birds disperse over the 

 country in pairs to breed. They usually build in cedar, chestnut, 

 or orchard trees, a somewhat bulky nest, placed in a fork from 

 ten to thirty feet from the ground. They lay some three or four 

 beautiful bluish white eggs, which are handsomely marked, and 

 the young are hatched on or about the first of July. These latter 

 are peculiar little fellows with spotted or coarsely streaked 

 breasts, and they have a habit of sitting bolt upright, with their 

 heads and necks stretched out to their utmost lengths in a line 

 with the axis of their bodies. While thus posed — and the adults 

 are likewise given to this habit — they are perfectly motionless 

 and silent. I have fine photographs of both old and young wdiile 

 assuming this attitude. Parent cedar birds first feed their young 

 upon insects and larva?, but as the latter grow, upon various 

 kinds of berries. 



Often near eventide, I have noticed a small flock of Cedar birds 



