234 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



(d). He is not alwaj's silent during tlie day, when feeding, 

 but it is at evening in May or June that he sings most loudly 

 and sweetly. Then, perclijng near the top of some low tree, 

 he pours out an extremely mellow warble, like that of the 

 Robin, but very much finer. Sometimes, in the love-season, he 

 sings at night, and with an ardor which adds to the beauty of 

 his song. There is a peculiar charm in hearing birds sing at 

 night, for their music is more distinct and impressive in the 

 general silence which there then is, and awakes the imagina- 

 tion. The cries of the owls would not seem so unearthly, were 

 they heard only in the day, nor would they inspire such terror 

 to the superstitious, a terror which the darkness naturally in- 

 creases or partl}^ creates. 



The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have as an ordinary note a 

 sharp chink, which bears some resemblance to the cry of the 

 little spotted or Downy Woodpecker, but is more like a certain 

 note of the Black and- Yellow Warbler. They are never gre- 

 garious, but occur here for the most part in isolated pairs, who 

 in autumn are sometimes followed by their young. They are 

 said sometimes to sing well in confinement, " though," says a 

 correspondent, "one, which I had for several months, was for a 

 long while silent, until one morning he burst into song, and 

 sang gloriously for almost an hour, when he fell dead on the 

 floor of his cage ! " The males sometimes warble when on 

 wing, and they probably mount in the air, as they sing at night. 

 Their merits as musicians will, it is sincerely to be hoped, ever 

 protect them from persecution as occasional depredators on 

 our shrubs and trees. 



XXIII. CARDINALIS 



(A) viRGiNiANUs. Cardinal Grosbeak. Cardinal Red Bird. 

 Cardinal-bird. ''Cardinal." Red Bird."^"^ ''Virginia Night- 

 ingale." 



(Accidental in Massachusetts, and rare so far to the north- 

 ward.) 



'<Not to be confused with the vermilion Summer Bed Bird (§10, I, B;. The 

 Cardinal has a red bill. 



