EASTERN CARDINAL H 



light at quick intervals flaslied upon their brilliant livery. They had been 

 observed to pass in this manner to their roost for a considerable time, and, at 

 daybreak, they were seen again to proceed and disperse for subsistence. 



Harvey B. Lonell (1948) comments on the frequency with which 

 the cardinal removes aluminum bands from its tarsus. 



Stanley Logan (1951) mentions a pair of cardinals that lost nest 

 and young in a windstorm. The adults built a new nest. The 

 male, before the second brood hatched, undertook to feed four young 

 robins and was almost as active in that respect as the parent robins. 

 Ultimately the cardinal's second nesting proved successful, and the 

 male cardinal fed both its own young and the robins'. 



Voice. — Although the cardinal could hardly be rated as one of our 

 fuiest singers, it has a great variety of rich, flutelike notes, which are 

 very pleasing and are sure to command the attention of even the 

 casual observer. It is a very persistent smger throughout most of 

 the year, and it has been heard singing occasionally during every 

 month in the year, but in the northern states, the main song period 

 is from Alarch to August, and according to J. Rowland Nowell (1899), 

 in the vicinity of Anderson, N.C., the cardinal sings in February. 

 Both sexes sing, and the song of the female is but little mferior to 

 that of the male, though usually softer. 



Mrs. Laskey (1944) says that cardinals "have at least 28 different 

 songs, but male and female song are indistinguishable. Cardinal 

 song may sometimes be heard the year round, but full song for the 

 male usually extends from February to September, and for the 

 female, from March until July to August. Whisper singing, an- 

 tiphonal singing, and night singing are all common with cardinals." 



Rev. J. J. Murray writes to me: "Once, on the last day of March, 

 I watched a female that was moving through a thicket, followed by 

 a male. Occasionally she stopped to whistle a low, sweet song, 

 peer, peer, peer, peer, the male silent all the while. Sometimes a 

 cardinal, disturbed at its roosting place, will react by singing, even in 

 the middle of the night." 



G. M. Sutton (MS.) points out that prior to nesting the first song 

 for any given day may be uttered by either sex. Singing by the 

 female subsides with nesting. During that period the male greets 

 the day with "trial" songs, which may be three whistled chuck-er whee 

 phrases, usually preceded by a few chirps similar to the alarm notes. 

 Similar call notes are uttered in the evening for several minutes 

 before the male flies to its perch for the night. In midsummer 

 ebuUient singing, by both sexes, may be followed by nesting, during 

 which singing becomes practically nonexistent. 



Hervey Brackbill says in his notes: "I have once seen a cardinal 

 sing on the whig. During a flight of about 70 yards, early one March 



