FINCHES. 243 



ginia Nightingale.'" Accidental in Massachusetts, and rare 

 so far to the northward.* 



a. About 8|- inches long ; crested. ^ , black about the 

 bill, but otherwise of a brilliant vermilion, which is dull upon 

 the back. 5 •> ^^"^^^ brown above, much paler beneath, with 

 vermilion on the crest, and traces of it elsewhere. 



h. The nest seems to resemble strongly that of the Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak, though more substantial. The eggs aver- 

 age 1.05 X .80 of an inch, and are white, evenly spotted with 

 (dull) brown and faint?- lilac. 



c. The gorgeous Cardinal Grosbeaks seem to have oc- 

 curred occasionally in Massachusetts as wanderers from the 

 South, and not merely as escaped cage-birds. They are habit- 

 ually summer residents for the most part in the Southern 

 States, where they inhabit shrubbery, groves, thickets, and 

 like places. They feed principally upon various seeds and 

 grain, and are probably somewhat injurious on this account. 

 Not only are the males extremely brilliant, and very conspic- 

 uous in their haunts, but both sexes sing finely. 



d. " They are in song," says Wilson, " from March to 

 September, beginning at the first appearance of dawn, and 

 repeating a favorite^ stanza, or passage, twenty or. thirty times 

 successively ; sometimes with little intermission for a whole 

 morning together ; which, like a good story too often repeated, 

 becomes at length tiresome and insipid. But the sprightly 

 figure, and gaudy plumage of the Red Bird, his vivacity, 

 strength of voice, and actual variety of note, and the little 

 expense with which he is kept, will always make him a 

 favorite.'' 



It is said that a stuffed specimen can never convey an ade- 

 quate idea of the Cardinal Grosbeak's beauty, as the intensity 

 of his color disappears very soon after death. 



XXIV. PASSER. 



A. DOMESTicus.^^ House Si^arroiD. Eiiglisli Sparrow. 



* The Cardinal is a rather rare and ^^ This species apparently belongs 



perhaps only chance visitor to southern to the genus Pyrgita « (XXV). 



New England, but it breeds reg-ularly « The A. 0. U. Committee did not 



in Central Park, New York. — W. B. rule on this point. To avoid a chang-e 



