THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 



337 



to another. Still, its musical powers are sufficiently marked to earn for the bird the title of 

 Virginian Nightingale, and it is a curious fact that the female often sings nearly as well as 

 her mate. 



This bird seems to be of a very tender-hearted disposition, and given to the adoption of 

 other birds when young and helpless. Wilson mentions that he placed a young cow bird in 



CARDINAL GROSBEAK and HAWFINCH. CaiMiuitu virginiana* aud VwwtArauttei vuigatii. 



the same cage with a Cardinal Grosbeak, which the latter immediately adopted, and reared 

 the poor, helpless little creature that had appealed so suddenly to its compassionate feelings. 

 Mr. Webber, moreover, in his account of the Birds of America, gives an anecdote of a Scarlet 

 Grosbeak belonging to an old woman in Washington City, which used to make a regular busi- 

 ness of rearing the young of other birds which were placed under his charge, and thereby 

 earning a considerable sum of money in the course of a season. She had often been offered a 

 high price for her bird, but always refused to sell him, impelled either by hope of gain or by 

 love of the bird ; we may hope that the latter feeling predominated. 



In its native land the Cardinal Grosbeak is most common in the Southern States, and in 

 some localities is migratory, while in others it remains throughout the year. " In the 

 Northern States," says Wilson, "they are migratory, but in the lower parts of Pennsylvania 

 they reside during the whole year, frequenting the borders of creeks and rivulets, in sheltered 

 hollows covered with holly, laurel, and other evergreens. They love also to reside in the 

 vicinity of fields of Indian corn, a grain that contributes their chief and favorite food. The 

 seeds of apples, cherries, and of many other sorts of fruit are also eaten by them, and they 



are accused of destroying bees." 

 VOL. n.-. 



