308 
in winter, as does the Evening Grosbeak. They are too rare to have any 
great economic influence. Their favourite food is the dried waste fruit 
that hangs throughout the winter. 
619. Cedar Waxwing, cedar-bird. Carolina waxwing, cherry-bird. Bornby- 
cilla cedrorum. L, 7 • 19. Plate LXV B. A very neat, nattily plumaged bird, about the 
size of a House Sparrow. Soft brown fawn over head, breast, and back, changing to slate 
grey on rump and pale yellow on abdomen. A prominent, sharp-tipped, erectile crest: 
a black bar through eyes; chin-spot of same colour. Tail tipped with lemon, as if dipped 
in paint. Small, reddish appendages like bits of sealing wax on tips of secondaries and some- 
times on tail feathers. 
Distinctions. To be mistaken only for the Bohemian Waxwing, but is decidedly smal- 
ler; yellowish instead of faintly greyish beneath, without yellow or white on wings, and 
undertail-coverts creamy white instead of rich chestnut. 
Field Marks. The natty shape and bearing, with conspicuous, usually upstanding, 
crest are easily recognizable field marks for this bud as a Waxwing. Small size, yellowish 
underparts, total lack of red under the tail, and absence of yellow or white markings on 
closed wing will separate it from the Bohemian Waxwing. This is the Waxwing most 
likely to be seen in southern Canada during the summer. Any such bird seen, except in 
winter, should be assumed to be this species until positive Bohemian details are recog- 
nized. The note, a fine sharp wheeze, is distinctive and soon learned. 
Nesting. In fruit or shade trees or in bushes. Nest of strips of bark, leaves, grasses, 
twigs, rootlets, or moss, lined with finer materials of same nature. 
Distribution. North America. In Canada, north to well into the northern boreal 
forest. 
The Cedar Waxwing is one of the familiar birds of the orchard. It 
builds in the fruit trees and is rather too well known in the vicinity of early 
ripening cherries. In the winter it seeks the various kinds of old dried 
fruit left hanging on the branches. The coloration is soft and harmonious 
with just enough accent of contrast to give character. The peculiar smooth 
silky texture of the plumage causes the feathers to cling together so that 
they always lie smoothly and are never awry. The red sealing-wax-like 
processes in which the shafts of the secondaries and sometimes the tail 
feather end, common to this and the Bohemian Waxwing, are unique 
amongst American birds and give an added touch of individuality. 
Economic Status. About 13 per cent of the Waxwing's food is noxious 
insects, the remainder largely fruit. The greater part of the fruit is wild 
and of no economic importance, in fact, as with most birds, wild fruits are 
evidently much preferred to cultivated ones. However, when early cherries 
ripen before the wild, the damage Waxwings can do is considerable. The 
same amount of fruit distributed over many later trees might pass unnoticed, 
but when the damage is concentrated upon the earliest and most valuable 
part of the crop the loss may be keenly felt. The protection of early 
fruit from the depredations of this and a few other species of like habit 
is a subject that has received considerable attention. To shoot all birds 
visiting the orchard is one solution, but a very poor one. It gives only 
partial protection and has to be repeated each season; for as long as any 
remain in the vicinity the annual increase will undo the results of previous 
efforts. Besides, the entire community is deprived of the valuable assist- 
ance of a number of species in order that a certain amount of early fruit 
may be protected for a few individuals. As the birds prefer wild to culti- 
vated fruit, early ripening wild fruit trees in waste corners and along fences 
provide inexpensive protection. The Russian mulberry and serviceberry 
and, later, the black currant, mountain-ash, raspberries, and blackberries, 
sumach, alder, wild grape, bittersweet, nightshade, snowberry, and elders, 
according to the fruit possibilities of the locality, will serve the purpose. 
