64 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



the country with liim and have watched his 

 gracious ways. 



His call is a rich and rounded ciic-ciic that 

 penetrates the grove and often hrint^^s an answer- 

 ing CIIC-CIIC from another 1)ird far away. The 

 rapid liip-ip-ip-ip-ip'ip-ij\ uttered without any 

 loss of [)Ower at the end. rings out clear from 

 the tops of the trees and seems to rouse the 

 echoes. Then there is the long drawn out c-ccc, 



rllulu by II. T. MidillLauii 



YOUNG CARDINAL 



and the cheer, cheer, cheer that makes one feel 

 a joy in having such a bird in the neighborhood. 

 Ridgway has listed about a dozen varieties of 

 the Cardinal but they are mostly in Mexico. 

 Only the Florida {Cardinalis cardinalis flori- 

 daiiiis) and Arizona (Cardinalis cardinalis siipcr- 

 hiis) and the Gray-tailed (Cardinalis cardinalis 

 caiiicaiidiis) occupy small areas adjacent to the 



great areas of the true Cardinalis east of Texas 

 and south of the Hudson and the Great Lakes. 

 The Gray-tailed Cardinal is but one of the Mexi- 

 can varieties that extends up into Texas. But 

 wherever found the Cardinal is a rare sight. 

 Many persons have become much interested in 

 all birds by being first interested in the Cardinal. 

 Some have called him an FFV ( member of one 

 of the first families of Virginia). Better yet, he 

 is an FF of America. L. Nelson Nichols. 



It has been claimed that the Cardinal pulls 

 sprouting grain, but no evidence of damage to 

 cither grain or other crops is afforded by the 

 examination of more than 500 stomachs. On 

 the other hand, the evidence is ample that he 

 does much good. The Redbird is known to feed 

 on the Rocky Mountain locust, periodical cicada, 

 and Colorado potato beetle. It is a great enemy 

 also to the rose chafer, cotton worm, plum or 

 cherry scale, and other scale insects, and attacks 

 many other important insect pests, including the 

 zebra caterpillar of the cabbage, the cucumber 

 beetles, billbugs, locust flea-beetle, corn-ear worm, 

 cotton cutworm, southern fig-eater, codling 

 moth, and boll weevil. In addition, it consumes 

 a great many seeds of injurious weeds. Thus 

 its food habits entitle the bird to our esteem, as 

 its brilliant coat and spirited song compel our 

 admiration. 



ARIZONA PYRRHULOXIA 



Pyrrhuloxia sinuata sinuata ( Bonaparte) 



A, O. l\ Number S94 



Other Names. — P.ullfnich ; Rullfjiich Cardinal ; (jray 

 Griisheak : ("itay Cardinal; Parrot-bill. 



General Description. — Length, 9 inches. Phimasie. 

 .grayish, with red crest and tail. Rill, short, thick, and 

 strongly curved; wings, short and nnich rounded; tail, 

 decidedly longer than wing, rounded. 



Color. — .^I)UI.T Male: .'Vbove, brownish gray or 

 grayisli Iiair-brown becoming purer gray (between 

 drab-gray and smoke gray) on head and neck; all the 

 wing-feathers with concealed bases, dusky red; outer 

 webs of primaries and primary coverts, mostly dull red; 

 middle tail-feathers, dusky brownish becoming dark 

 dull reddish in the center and edged with brownish 

 gray; rest of tail-feathers, dull red becoming dusky 

 brownish at the ends, the shafts of all, black on upper 

 surface; longer feathers of crest, dull red; forehead, 

 chin, thrnal. and other center lower parts, thighs, and 

 most of un<U'r side of wing, f^urc red (geranium-red to 



poppy-red), the lores and eye region, duller red; sides 

 of under parts, light brownish gray, paler and tinged 

 with bufify posteriorly; bill, yellowish in summer, horn 

 colored in winter; iris, Ijrown. Adult Female: 

 .Similar to adult male, but lacking the red of face and 

 center under parts (or with it but slightly indicated), 

 the general color of the under parts of a decided 

 bufTy hue; bill, yellow in summer, grayish brown in 

 winter. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In mesquite. or thorny 

 thickets; resembles that of t!ie Cardinal Init more com- 

 pactly put together and smaller; made of bark strips, 

 twigs, grass, lined with small roots. Eccs : 3. pale 

 bluish white spotted with difTerent shades of brown and 

 lavender, wreathed around large end. 



Distribution. — Northwestern Mexico ; southern por- 

 tions of Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and ex- 

 treme western part of Texas. 



