The Cedar Waxwing 
83 
of the jay and the kingfisher, the red of the 
cardinal, and the richly shaded grayish-brown of 
the cedar waxwing, which is, perhaps, the most 
familiar of them all. His neat and well-groomed 
plumage is fine and very silky, almost dove-like 
in colouring, and although there are no gaudy 
features about it, few of our birds are so ex- 
quisitely dressed. The pointed crest, which 
rises and falls to express every passing emotion, 
and the velvety black chin, forehead, and line 
running apparently through the eye, give dis- 
tinction to the head. The tail has a narrow 
yellow band across its end, and on the wings are 
the small red spots like sealing wax that are 
responsible for the bird’s queer name. The 
waxwing is larger than a sparrow and smaller 
than a robin. 
But it is difficult to think of a single bird 
when one usually sees a flock. Sociable to a^ 
degree, the waxwings rove about a neighbour- 
hood in scattered companies, large and small, 
to feed on the cedar or juniper berries, choke- 
cherries, dog-wood and woodbine berries, elder, 
haw, and other small wild fruits on which they 
feed very greedily ; then move on to some other 
place where their favourite fruit abounds. 
Happily, they care very little about our culti- 
vated fruit and rarely touch it. A good way 
to invite many kinds of birds to visit one’s 
neighbourhood is to plant plenty of berry- 
