There is so much variation in different specimens in regard to the red wax-like appendages, that the Guatemalan specimen mentioned above can hardly be considered as more than a very highly developed individual.
Habits. The habits of the common Cedar-Bird are eminently nomadic, and, so far as those of the Waxwing are known, correspond in all respects, except in the more general and especially the more southern distribution of the present species. They are found throughout North America at least so far as the wooded country extends, and they breed from Florida to the Red River country. They are a common bird in New England, and would be much more so but that their fondness for cherries and other small fruits, and their indifference to danger, makes them an easy and frequent mark for destruction. Their unpopularity has caused their numbers to be greatly reduced of late years in the thickly settled portions of the country.
In Southern Texas Mr. Dresser found these birds very common during the winter at San Antonio and Eagle Pass, but he observed none later than the middle of April. They were seen in Tamaulipas, by Lieutenant Couch, in March, and afterwards in April at New Leon, Mexico. Sumichrast states that these birds are found everywhere and in great abundance in winter throughout Vera Cruz. They are there known as the Chinito, and are highly appreciated by the Mexican epicures. They are equally abundant in northern parts of South America, and also throughout Central America.
In Washington Territory and in Oregon Dr. Cooper speaks of them as less common than in the Atlantic States, and he only met with a few, in single pairs, in the summer. Townsend states that he found them in Oregon, but Dr. Suckley never met with any west of the Rocky Mountains.
In California Dr. Cooper has seen small flocks in winter, as far south as San Diego, feeding on the mistletoe berries. He found their nests at Fort Vancouver, and has no doubt that they also breed in various parts of California.
Mr. Robert Kennicott states, among other memoranda of his route, that, May 31, on an island in Winnipeg River, he saw a large flock of these birds, numbering fifty or more.
With some irregularity as to their appearance, they are found throughout the year in New England, their presence being usually regulated by their food. They are, by preference, eaters of berries and other vegetable food, except in spring and early summer, when they eat insects almost exclusively, feeding upon the larvæ of the spanworm and the canker-worm, and small caterpillars, and supplying these to their young. They also feed their nestlings with various kinds of berries and small fruits, both cultivated and wild. They do not nest until late in June or early in July, and with so much
irregularity that I have found them sitting on their unhatched eggs as late as the 12th of October. They are a greedy bird, feeding voraciously where they have an opportunity. They are very much attached to each other and to their offspring. Once, when one had been taken in a net spread over strawberries, its mate refused to leave it, suffered itself to be taken by the hand, in its anxiety to free its mate, and when set at liberty would not leave until its mate had also been released and permitted to go with it. In the summer of 1870 a nestling, hardly half fledged, fell from its nest, and was found injured by its fall, taken into the house, and fed. Whenever exposed in its cage its parents came about it, and supplied it with cherries and other fruit, unmindful of the near presence of the family. The young bird lived, and became perfectly tame, feeding from the hand, and preferring to be fed rather than feed itself. Besides its low lisping call, this bird had a regular faint attempt at a song of several low notes, uttered in so low a tone that it would be almost inaudible at even a short distance. It became perfectly contented in confinement, and appeared fond of such members of the family as noticed it.
The noticeable feature of the Cedar-Bird, its crest, it has the power to erect or depress at will. In confinement it generally keeps this depressed, only erecting it when excited from any cause, such as alarm, or desire to receive food.
Wilson states that in Pennsylvania they collect in August in large flocks and retire to the mountains, feeding on the fruit of the Vaccinium uliginosum, which grows there in great abundance. Later in the season they descend to the lowlands to feed on the berries of the sour-gum and the red-cedar. In confinement they are very fond of apples, bread soaked in milk, and almost any kind of soft food. They are also very fond of flies, and are expert flycatchers, snapping at all that venture within the cage.