Notes from St. John, N. B. 
/ During the Winter of 1879, ’80, the Ce- 
dar Bird ( Ampelis cedrorum) weathered 
the rigors of our climate as late as the 
middle of January, 
(?. + (?. /fr 
Birds Of Upper St, John, 
Batchelder. 
36. Ampelis cedrorum ( VieilL)^ Bd. ^ 
Cedarbird. — It was not un- 
common at Gmnd F^lls. At Fort Fairfield we found it common. 
Bali. N. O.O, 7, April, 1882, p.llO 
junw At ■ . A/. 
I give a few causes that may be attribu- 
ted to these birds rem aining with us through 
this particular Winter, not that it was 
milder than usual, or more broken ; rather 
the reverse, for several days the mercury 
reached the cypher. The abundance of 
food the Cedar Birds found in the berries 
of the Mountain Ash was a great attraction 
for them, for on these they fed sumptous- 
ly ; in fact, gorging themselves to such an 
extent that they would apparently become 
stupid, and when in this state allow them- 
selves to be captured by means of a wire 
noose attached to a fishing rod. If the 
wire happened to touch them before you 
succeeded in placing it over their heads, it 
would not alarm them in the least. They 
would pick at it, turn their heads and ex- 
amine it, as though it were quite a curiosi- 
ty. When one was captured the balance 
of the flock would fly away in great alarm. 
I kept several of these birds in confine- 
ment that I had captured in this way ; 
they, however, proved themselves such 
very uninteresting pets that I afterwards 
gave them their liberty. 
The abundance of food they found in 
the berries must have been a great attrac- 
tion to them, for when the supply was ex- 
hausted, and they had entirely stripped 
the trees, they disappeared, and did not 
again put in an appearance until June, 
which is their usual time of arriving from 
the south. None of the specimens that I 
captured had the usual waxen appendages 
on the secondaries, and were mostly young 
birds which had probably bred farther 
north and were only then moving south as 
scarcity of food and severity of weather 
compelled them ; but why does not this 
occur every year ? The berries upon 
which they fed have since been as abun- 
dant and no Cedar Birds have appeared at 
this late season. Their appearance may 
then be attributed to an erratic migration 
on the part of these birds. I was quite 
disappointed on first discovering them to 
find they were not the Bohemian Wax- 
wing, {Ampelis garrula ), for which bird I 
have kept a sharp lookout, but have not as 
yet succeeded in securing a single speci- 
men. 
Q'lrGP- \/n. /3w. 
Last Dates Migratory Birds observed by 
B. D . Win tie, Falll885, Montreal, Can. 
'b&its. f 
17, Cedar Bird, 
O.&O. XI, Mar. 1886. p. i/A 
Breeding Dates of Birds inKings 
County, N. S. Watson L. Bishop. 
Cedarbird ( Ampelis cedrodrum). June 20. 
July 3, 4. 
O.&O. XIII. Mar. 1888 p.45 
common summer 
>.236 
n 
