The Bird Book/Waxwings

WAXWINGS. Eamily AMPELID^E

0'18. BOHEMIAN WAXWING. Bombyeilla gar ruins

Range. Breeds in the Arctic regions except in the Rockies where it nearly reaches the United States ; winters south to the northern tier of states.

This handsome crested, grayish brown Waxwing resembles the common Cedar Waxwing but is larger (length 8 inches), has a black throat, much white and yellow on the wing and a yellow tip to tail. Their nests are made of rootlets, grass and moss, and situated in trees usually at a low elevation. The eggs resemble those of the Cedar-bird, but are larger and the marking more blotchy with indistinct edges ; dull bluish blotched with blackish brown; size .95 x .70. Data. Great Slave Lake, June 23, 1884. Nest in a willow 8 feet from the ground. Collected for Josiah Hooper. (Crandall collection).

Dull bluish

Bohemian Waxwing

(J19- CEDAR WAXWING. Bombyeilla cedrorum.

Range. Whole of temperate North America, breeding in the northern half of the United States and northward.

These birds are very gregarious and go in large flocks during the greater

part of the year, splitting up into smaller companies during the breeding season and nesting in orchards or groves and in any kind of tree either in an upright crotch or on a horizontal bough; the nests are made of grasses, strips of bark, moss, string, etc., and are often quite bulky. Their eggs are of a dull grayish blue color sharply speckled with blackish brown; size .85 x .60. Data. Old Saybrook, Conn., June 22, 1900. Nest composed of cinquefoil vines, grasses, wool and cottony substances ; situated on an apple tree branch about 10 feet from the ground. Collector, John N. Clark. This species has a special fondness for cherries, both wild and cultivated, and they are often known as Cherry-birds. They also feed upon various berries, and frequently catch insects in the air after the manner of Flycatchers. Their only notes are a strange Cedar Waxwing lisping sound often barely audible.

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THE BIRD BOOK

620. PHAINOPEPLA. Phainopepla nitens

Range. Southwestern United States and Mexico; north to southern Utah and Colorado.

This peculiar crested species is wholly shining blue black except for a patch of white on the inner webs of the primaries. Their habits are somewhat like those of the Cedar-bird, they being restless, and feeding upon berries or insects, catching the latter in the air. They make loosely constructed nests of twigs, mosses, plant Light gray fibres, etc., placed on branches of trees, usually below 20 feet from the ground, in thickets or open woods near water, the eggs are two or three in number, light gray, spotted sharply with black; size .88 x .65. Data. Pasadena, Cal., July 15, 1894. Nest in an oak 10 feet up; composed of weeds and string. Collector, Horace Gaylord.