TWENTY-SIX COMMON BIRDS. 
l 9 
CEDAR BIRD* 16* 
[ampelis cedrorum.] 
Most of our birds are very largely creatures of habit, but the 
Cedar Bird wanders about in a fashion somewhat unaccountable, 
and though the breeding birds reach New England in May, yet 
they often put off nesting till the end of June or in early July. A 
few Cedar Birds occasionally pass the winter in New England, 
and there is always an inroad of these birds in February. The 
flocks that come at this time frequent the cedar pastures and feed 
on the berries; they move off in April and another horde arrives in 
May and remains till October. Beside the cedar berries, cherries, 
bayberries, the fruit of the tupelo and the hackberry form the 
favorite food of this bird in fall and winter, but in spring they 
destroy enormous quantities of cankerworms, and in August display 
great skill in catching flies. They spend all the year, with the 
exception of the few weeks when they are breeding, in flocks, 
which occasionally number several hundred birds. The evolutions 
which these perform, the separation and reunion of their vari¬ 
ous parts, and their appearance as they pitch down into some tree, are 
extremely beautiful. They often sit close together in rows or groups 
uttering a wheezy lisp. In mating season they have been seen to 
offer each other with peculiar bows and sidling motions, fruit or 
insects, which are then returned with the same gestures. The nest 
is large, loosely constructed of grass and twigs, and lined with 
grass, hair, or feathers. It is placed in a low tree, often in an 
apple or small evergreen, and contains four or five bluish white 
eggs, spotted with lilac and brown. The peculiar waxlike append¬ 
ages which appear on the secondaries and sometimes on the tail 
feathers of the Cedar Bird, seem to bear no relationship to age or 
sex, and their presence is a mystery. 
RED-EYED VIREO* it. 
[VIREO OLIVACEUS.] 
There are probably few birds so abundant as this Vireo, which 
are so commonly overlooked by people in general. The appear- 
