153 TiiK Wilson Bulletin — No. Gl. 



en soonis to indicate tliat half a centnry ago the species was more or 

 less conmion iu Southeastern Michigan, but since then has retreated 

 from its range and is only now resuming it. The history of the 

 Point Pelee observations point in the same direction. Dr. Brodie 

 says, "I visited Point Pelee July, 1879. ... I formed a speakuig ac- 

 quaintance with several people and all had a story to tell about a 

 'visitation of war-birds' a few weeks previously. From descriptions 

 given tliere was no doubt these 'war-birds' were Cardinals. . . . From 

 diligent inquiries it appeared the birds were not rare summer visi- 

 tants, but this season they were unusually nimierous. I heard noth- 

 ing that suggested the presence of females, the birds were all red." 



Saunders made his first ornithological visit to the Point in late 

 August and early September, 1882, and another in May and June of 

 1884, and again in September of 1900. In none of these did he dis- 

 cover any Cardinals. It was not until the next year, in September, 

 when Keays visited the Point that the bird was again brought to no- 

 tice. See Auk, XIX, 1902, p. 205. On that occasion the residents said 

 that it had put in an appearance on the Point about four years previ- 

 ous. This last statement has since been corroborated in a certain de- 

 gree by Gardner, who states that his acquaintance with the Cardinal 

 has only been of a few years' duration; that he does not rememl)er it 

 as a boy, but that since some had been caught and caged by a woman 

 on the Point, he has known the species very well and does not think 

 that he could have overlooked it if, in the past, it had been as com- 

 mon as it is now. It is strange that so showy and loud whistling a 

 bird could have been overlooked by so acute an observer as Saunders, 

 if at the time of his visits it was as numerous as it now is. more es- 

 pecially as one of the visits was made in late spring before the song 

 period had quite passed. The spring of 1907 he and Taverner were 

 on the Point at this time and then Cardinals whistled from every 

 hand. The evidence certainly points to the conclusion that the Car- 

 dinal occupied the Point until at least 1879, and then for a sp|ice. un- 

 til about 1901, deserted the locality to a greater or less extent. It 

 is quite common now and it would be impossible for any field natur- 

 alist to visit the Point without making its acquaintance. On all our 

 spring visits it has been seen perched on some isolated cedar top in 

 the warm sunshine, whistling loud and long and making patches of 

 intense red against the dark background. They appear to be pretty 

 well distributed over the Point, from the base to its extreme end. 



In the fall they are more difficult to find. They then frequent the 

 densest tangles in little flocks which seem to be original broods, for 

 there are usually one or two adults and three or four juvenile birds 

 in the company. They are intensely curious and skulk about just 

 out of sight, uttering little clicks and cheeps that seem ridiculous 

 from so large a bird with such fine vocal powers. We have found 



