230 CEDAR BIRD.
nate, acute tip ; lower mandible nearly straight, a little bulging toward
the end. Nostrils basal, oval, partially concealed by the recumbent
feathers. Head and neck of ordinary size. Body bulky. Legs rather
short; tarsus compressed, anteriorly scutellate; toes scutellate above,
the outer toe united at the base to the middle one, the inner shorter than
the outer ; claws arched, compressed, acute.
Plumage blended, soft and silky; an erectile tuft on the head.
Wings rather long, the first quill longest. Tail slightly rounded, of
twelve straight, broad feathers.
Bill, eyes, and feet, brownish-black. A black band on the forehead,
passing backwards, tapering behind the eye, to the occiput, and margined
above and below by a narrow white band. Head, neck, and breast yellowish
brown, or fawn colour, fading into yellow on the abdomen, and
yellowish-white under the tail. Chin black. Back and wing-coverts
greyish-brown, passing on the lower back into light bluish-grey, of which
colour are the tail-coverts. Quills brownish-black, some of the secondaries
tipped with a small flat, oblong appendage, of the colour of red
sealing-wax. Of these appendages there are also frequently some on the
tail, which is greyish at the base, passing into brownish-black, and terminated
by a band of pale yellow.
Length 6 | inches, extent of wings 11 ; bill along the ridge T
5^, along
the gap § ; tarsus £.
Adult Female. Plate XLIII. Fig. 2.
The female is slightly smaller, and in external appearance differs
from the male only in being a little lighter in the tints of the plumage,
and in having the crest shorter. The waxen appendages also occur in
the female.
THE RED CEDAR.
J U N I P E R U S V I I I G I N I A N A , Willd. Sp. PI. vol. iv. p. 863. Mich. Arbr. Forest, cle
l'Amer. Septent. vol. iii. p. 42. PI. 5 . — D I U C C I A M O N A D E L P H I A , Linn. CON
I F E R S , Jim.
This plant is very generally distributed in the United States, and frequently
attains a height of from forty to fifty feet, with a diameter of a
CEDAR BIRD. 231
foot or fifteen inches at the base. It is distinguished by its ternate leaves,
which are adnate at the base, and imbricated. The berries are oval,
small, and of a bluish colour. The wood is red, close-grained, very durable,
and has a strong scent. Its growth is extremely slow, and this
circumstance, together with the great destruction of the tree for various
purposes, has rendered it difficult to procure cedar-wood of tolerable size
in the more accessible parts of the country.