Nesting by waxwings is late in the season; June is the month in which the nest is usually started. This is readily explainable in Bohemian Waxwings, since adverse weather would prohibit earlier nesting in the area in which they spend the summer. Crouch (_op. cit._:1) remarks that _B. cedrorum_ possibly evolved in the far north where it was impossible for it to start nesting earlier, and that the habit has been retained. Perhaps, on the other hand, nesting is delayed until the berry crop is ripe, to insure sufficient food for the young. Desertion of the nest is not uncommon in waxwings, despite the tolerance to other animals that is shown by the birds. A new nest may suddenly be begun before the first one is finished, and all the materials from the first nest may be removed, or the nest may be abandoned before it is completed. The eggs may be left at any time up to hatching, and the young may be deserted, especially in the earlier stages of development. The very large and bulky communal nest of _Dulus_ is not radically different from the nest of waxwings. In the absence of sufficient nesting sites, a pair of gregarious birds such as _Dulus_ could combine their nest with those of other pairs, retaining for their own territory only the nest cavity, and in this way communal nests might have evolved. The nest of _Dulus_ is communal probably because of the lack of suitable trees for nesting sites, and only incidentally does this type of nest afford better protection from natural marauders. Large numbers of Palm-chats work together in the construction of the nest platform, and both sexes probably take part in the work. In _Phainopepla_ the nest is built mostly by the male (Merriam, 1896; Myers, 1908), although the female does some of the work, especially in the shaping and lining of the nest. In this genus, the nest is usually a compact structure, but exceptional nests are of considerable bulk. The nest is commonly placed in a fork near the main trunk of a tree, in a conspicuous location, and generally is 10 to 20 feet from the ground. In shape and location, the nest closely corresponds to that of _Bombycilla_, but the materials used for a base are stems of annual plants, whereas _Bombycilla_ uses more woody twigs. The finer materials used by _Phainopepla_ are more readily obtainable in the ecological association inhabited by _Phainopepla_ than would be heavier twigs such as _Bombycilla_ uses. FOOD