THE OOLOGIST. 



209 



one nest ii .•ii:)lher, I romeinl)ev read- 

 ing somcw!. re of a farmer who, while 

 ploughing a Jickl. flushed a Qn:til from 

 her nest almost under tho hoi'ses feet. 

 Not wishing u> oreak up the happy 

 home, h ' -ai-erally removed them a 

 short dis'au-e to a bed of grass made 

 for th • pur )ose. On returnimg an 

 houi- or two afterwards, he found the 

 eggs gone, and during the eourse of 

 th" afternoon, the Quail was discovered 

 sitting eontentedl}^ on her eggs in a 

 fcm-e corner 100 yards away. 



J also recollect reading another iu- 

 t("!-esting anecdote of a Robin, transfer- 

 in;:; her eggs from one nest to another 

 iielore the last nest was hardly finished. 



In conclusion, I will do myself the 

 iionor of saj'ing that Davie's Nests and 

 !'4^gs of North American Birds is the 

 Li'St book of its kind I ever saw. 

 Yom-s Truly, 



J. Claik:c Wool*. 



The Cardinal Grosbeak. 



The Redbird,as it is commonly called, 

 is one of the most abundant birds in 

 '■■Kentucky and one that has attracted as 

 much attention as any. Its sprightly 

 figure, its gaudy plumage and its vi- 

 vacity do not fail to make it one of or.r 

 best known songsters. 



The Cardinal is sometimes called the 

 Virginia Nightingale oa account of its 

 clearness and strengt'i of voice and 

 note, many of them resembling the 

 slight notes of a fife and are nearly as 

 loud. They begin their song with the 

 first appearance of daw'u and frequent- 

 ly, with little iutermissif)n; sing for a 

 whole mf)rning together. 



The whole upper part of the Cardi- 

 nal's body is a dusky red except the 

 side of the neck and head, which, with 

 the low^n- parts, are a In'ight vermillion. 

 The head is ornamented with a crest or 

 topnot. 



The female is smaliei-, l)ut there is 

 not niuch ditferencf' in the plumage. 



It is not a migratory bird, but re- 

 mains with us throughout the entire 

 winter months, and as seen flitting 

 thi-oughout the leafless forests, its bril- 

 liant plumage contrasts strangely with 

 the stark and fi ozeu branches of the 

 trees, the bleak surroundings and gen- 

 erally dismal aspect, bi-iuging back to 

 the collector memories of spring and 

 summer, when the selfsame woods were 

 green with leaves, and the forest aisles 

 filled with sunshine, and feathered 

 songsters of all description twitted and 

 sported away the golden hours, filling 

 the air with their sweet carols from 

 early morn 'till dewy eve. 



The Cerdinal generally breeds in a 

 thicket of scruliby bushes not far from 

 the outskirts. Half the time a scrubby 

 thorn tree is selected for the nesting 

 site, which is situated four or five feet 

 from the ground. It is composed of 

 coarse grass, vegetable sprigs, fine 

 twigs, bark of grapevine, and lined 

 with finer grasses and hair. 



Davie, in his third edition, intimates 

 that the number of eggs found in a 

 cluti-h are three or four, as many of 

 one number as of the other. In this 

 section I find that three-fourths of the 

 sets found contain only three eggs. 



The ground color of the egg is gen- 

 erally a dull Avhite, scnnetimes Avith a 

 tinge of green, with lavender and red- 

 dish-brown -spots and blotches distrib- 

 uted over the entire surface. 



I have in my posses'sion the finest 

 set of eggs of this bird that has ever 

 come under my notice. They were 

 taken aboiit a mile from Lebanon. The 

 nest was placed in a low pine tree about 

 four feet from the ground. The ground 

 color of the eggs was of a greenish hue 

 and the )narkings are so heavy and 

 large that they cover nearly the entire 

 surface. Incubation was fresh, and 

 number of eggs, four. 



A. C. L., Lebanon, Kv- 



