66 CARDINAL 



ill door-yards where it can indulge its fondness 

 for rose bugs. In the Washington Zoo Cardinals 

 are common, and after February their song often 

 rings through the bare woods. When spring 

 comes they may be heard there every day, and 

 they are so used to j)ark visitors that you can 

 stand almost under the tree in which one is sing- 

 ing and watch him as, with head thrown back 

 and tail hanging, he brings out his long-drawn 

 liquid note — cue^ cue^ cue. Even when you do 

 not hear the song or see the bird, you may guess 

 its presence from the thin ' cliii) ' which resembles 

 that of its relative the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 



In the matter of food, it is said that the Cardi- 

 nal eats the seeds of rank weeds. Though these 

 birds usually live only in pairs, Nuttall, when 

 in South Carolina during severe weather, once 

 saw a flock passing to a roost at sunset. The 

 flock was so large that it took twenty minutes to 

 pass over. The na.turalist exclaims : " The beau- 

 tiful procession, illumined by the last rays of the 

 setting sun, was incomparably splendid as the 

 shifting shadowy light at quick intervals flashed 

 upon their brilliant livery." 



