CEDAR BIRD. 
267 
while cherries and strawberries abound, they become 
extremely fat; and, about the 10th or 12th of that 
mouth, disperse over the country iu pairs to breed; 
sometimes fixin" on the cedar, but generally choosing 
the orchard for tliat purpose. The nest is large for the 
size of the bird, lixed in the forked or horizontal branch 
of an a])ple tree, ten or tnelve feet from the ground; 
outwardly, and at bottom, is laid a mass of coarse diy 
stalks of grass, and the inside is lined uholly with 
very fine stalks of the same material. The eggs are 
three or four, of a dingy bluish w hite, thick at the great 
end, tapering- suddenly, and becoming very narrow at 
the other; marked with small roundish spots of black 
of various sizes and shades ; and the great end is of a 
pale dull |iurple tinge, marked likewise with touches of 
Various shades of purple and bhu.-k. About the last 
Week in June the young ai-e hatched, and are at first 
fed on insects and their larvie ; but, as they advance in 
grow'th, on berries of various kinds. These facts I 
have myself been an eye witness to. The female, if 
disturbed, darts from the nest in silence to a consider- 
able distance ; no notes of wailing or lamentation are 
lieard from either parent, nor are they even seen, not- 
withstanding yon are in the tree examining the nest 
and young. These nests are less fr<'(piently found than 
Oiany others, owing-, not only to the comparatively few 
humhers of the birds, hut to the remarkable muteness 
of the species. The season of love, w Inch makes almost 
every other small bird musical, has no such efiect on 
them; for they continue, at that iuteresting period, as 
silent as before. 
This species is also found in Canada, where it is 
Called recollet, probably, as Dr Latham suj)|)oses, from 
the colour and appearance of its crest resembling the 
Rood of an order of friars of that denomination ; it has 
■‘Iso been met with by several of our voyagers on the 
Northwest coast of America, and .appears to have an 
extensive range. 
Almost all the ornithologists of Europe persist in 
