A MERRY PIPER. 209 



or a copse on the hillside or in the vale, which 

 does not have as presiding geniuses one or more 

 pairs of these birds. In the bushy woods in 

 which I have so often sauntered they may be 

 found both in summer and winter. Down by 

 the river and along the bush-fringed banks of 

 the meandering runways they love to dwell, 

 building nests in the tanglewoods and piping 

 in concert with the song spari'ows that hop 

 and trill hard by the water's edge. 



In the northeastern part of the State I also 

 met the cardinals making themselves at home 

 on the steep, wooded hillsides. On a spring 

 day, some years ago, I was tramping along one 

 of these rocky acclivities listening to what 

 might have been called a '' responsive exer- 

 cise," in which several cardinals on the hill- 

 side and one in a cage in the village nestling 

 below, were the performers. It seemed to me 

 that there was a sadness, an intense yearning, 

 in the tones of the pijDing prisoner, while a 

 peculiar gayety rang in the rolling, reso^iant 

 songs of the free birds. Was this only fancy ? 



During some rambles which I took along 

 the Ohio River on the Kentucky side several 

 years ago, I found the cardinals very abundant 

 and very tuneful, the high hills covered with 

 bushes and brambles, making almost a paradise 



