1 10 CEDAR BIRD. 



on the chin, loose and tufted ; the wings, black ; and the 

 markings of white and black on the sides of the head different 

 from the American, which is as follows : — Length, seven 

 inches ; extent, eleven inches ; head, neck, breast, upper part 

 of the back and wing-coverts, a dark fawn colour, darkest 

 on the back, and brightest on the front ; head, ornamented 

 with a high-pointed, almost upright, crest; line from the 

 nostril over the eye to the hind head, velvety black, bordered 

 above with a fine line of white, and another line of white 

 passes from the lower mandible ; chin, black, gradually 

 brightening into fawn colour, the feathers there lying ex- 

 tremely close ; bill, black ; upper mandible nearly triangular 

 at the base, without bristles, short, rounding at the point, 

 where it is deeply notched ; the lower, scolloped at the tip, 

 and turning up ; tongue, as in the rest of the genus, broad, 

 thin, cartilaginous, and lacerated at the end ; belly, yellow ; 

 vent, white ; wings, deep slate, except the two secondaries 

 next the body, whose exterior vanes are of a fawn colour, and 

 interior ones white, forming two whitish stripes there, which are 

 very conspicuous ; rump and tail-coverts, pale light blue ; tail, 

 the same, gradually deepening into black, and tipt for half an 

 inch with rich yellow. Six or seven, and sometimes the whole 

 nine, secondary feathers of the wings are ornamented at the tips 

 with small red oblong appendages, resembling red sealing-wax; 

 these appear to be a prolongation of the shafts, and to be 

 intended for preserving the ends, and consequently the vanes, 

 of the quills, from being broken and worn away by the almost 

 continual fluttering of the bird among thick branches of the 

 cedar. The feathers of those birds which are without these 

 appendages are uniformly found ragged on the edges, but 

 smooth and perfect in those on whom the marks are full and 

 numerous. These singular marks have been usually con- 

 sidered as belonging to the male alone, from the circumstance, 

 perhaps, of finding female birds without them. They are, 

 however, common to both male and female. Six of the latter 

 are now lying before me, each with large and numerous 



