Waxwing SONG—BIRDS.
I found some Shrike’s feathers, with their wavy markings, adhering to the glass. He had evidently swooped without taking the heavy glass into his calculations, and had bruised his breast.
Twice only, in middle April, I have heard the Shrike’s real song; the notes are soft and very musical, and our bird-loving Danish gardener tells me that in his country the native species is prized as a cage bird and often shows great cleverness as a “ mocker.”
FAMILY AMPELIDIE: WAXWINGS. Cedar Waxwing: Ampeh's cedrorum. Cedar-bird.
PLATE 22.
Lenyth: 6.50—7.25 inches.
Male and Female: Above grayish cinnamon. Crest, breast, throat, wings, and tail, purplish cinnamon. Black line from back of crest, extending through eye, and forming black frontlets. Secondary wing quills tipped with waxy points. Tail feathers banded with yellow, and sometimes red tips. Bill and feet b ask.
Song: A buzzing call, — “Tweé, tweé-zeé.” “ A dreary Whisper," Minot calls it.
Season : A resident, breeding here, and wandering about in flocks the remainder of the year, feeding upon various fruits, and in win- ter upon cedar berries.
Breeds : Irregularly through its North American range.
est : A deep bowl made of twigs, lined with grass and feathers, and much miscellaneous material, either in a crotch, or saddled on the limb of a stout cedar bush or a tree, preferably the apple
tree.
Eggs : 3—5, blue-white, with brown and lilac spots.
Range: North America at large, from the Fur Countries southward; in winter, south to Guatemala and the West Indies.
You Will at once recognize the Cedar ‘Vaxwing by its crest, yellow tail tips, red Wing appendages, and straight black bill. Its feathers are more exquisitely shaded than those of our more brilliantly coloured birds. The specimen I have
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