kes; the entomologist will call them _Achorutes nivicola_ and
he knows that they have prosaically wiggled their way from the crevices of
bark on the nearest tree-trunk. One's thrill of pleasure at this
unexpected discovery will lead one to adopt sparrow-views whenever larger
game is lacking.

I walked erstwhile upon thy frozen waves,
And heard the streams amid thy ice-locked caves;
I peered down thy crevasses blue and dim,
Standing in awe upon the dizzy rim.
Beyond me lay the inlet still and blue,
Behind, the mountains loomed upon the view
Like storm-wraiths gathered from the low-hung sky.
A gust of wind swept past with heavy sigh,
And lo! I listened to the ice-stream's song
Of winter when the nights grow dark and long,
And bright stars flash above thy fields of snow,
The cold waste sparkling in the pallid glow.

Charles Keeler.

CEDAR BIRDS AND BERRIES

Keep sharp eyes upon the cedar groves in mid-winter, and sooner or later
you will see the waxwings come, not singly or in pairs, but by dozens, and
sometimes in great flocks. They will well repay all the watching one gives
them. The cedar waxwing is a strange bird, with a very pronounced
species-individuality, totally unlike any other bird of our country. When
feeding on their favourite winter berries, these birds show to great
advantage; the warm rich brown of the upper parts and of the crest
contrasting with the black, scarlet, and yellow, and these, in turn, with
the dark green of the cedar and the white of the snow.

The name waxwing is due to the scarlet ornaments at the tips of the lesser
flight feathers and some of the tail feathers, which resemble bits of red
sealing wax, but which are really the bare, flattened ends of the feather
shafts. Cherry-bird is another name which is appropriately applied to the
cedar waxwing.

These birds are never regular in their movements, and they come and go
without heed to weather or date. They should never be lightly passed by,
but their flocks carefully examined, lest among their ranks may be hidden
a Bohemian chatterer--a stately waxwing larger than common and even more
beautiful in hue, whose large size and splashes of white upon its wings
will always mark it out.

This bird is one of our rarest of rare visitors, breeding in the far