Cardinal or Redhird. 153 



species. Like typical nobles of olden times, never for- 

 getting their high position and ever respecting the least 

 of the proprieties, the cardinals move and live truly kings 

 among their baser fellows. 



Like the robin, Baltimore oriole, and other birds which 

 become familiar in their manners and confiding in the 

 choice of their nesting sites, the cardinals sometimes be- 

 come attached to particular locations, and occupy the 

 same spot for consecutive seasons. Once a pair established 

 themselves in a honeysuckle which climbed upon a trellis 

 standing about four feet from a parlor window of a house 

 in town. The vine grew within twelve feet of a sidewalk 

 used at all hours of the day, and in the lot across the 

 street was the largest church in the community. In this 

 center of activity the pair lived prosperously and joy- 

 ously for several years. During the early days of spring 

 and during the honeymoon the birds flitted about over 

 the neighborhood in company, cheerily whistling and 

 singing; for the female of the species is no indifferent 

 songster, her performances being well rendered, and only 

 a degree inferior to the mellow fluting of the male. In 

 the period of nidification, the notes of the male grew more 

 varied and expressive; and when the time of incubation 

 came, and the female patiently brooded over her home, 

 the devoted husband sat on the top of the trellis as his 

 most favored perch, and there eloquently proclaimed his 

 devotion and happiness. Many birds jealously refrain 

 from uttering their notes in the vicinity of their nests, 

 lest they betray the secret of their joy; but the cardinal 

 can strike his sweetest tones in the immediate vicinity of 

 his home. 



When I visited the family living in the house, I always 

 managed to take a peep aL the home presided over so 

 gracefully by the mother cardinal. The chief feature 

 which first attracted my attention was her enormously 

 large bill, which had a decided tinge of vermilion in its 

 coloring; and I understood why the species is sometimes 

 called the cardinal grosbeak, for the great bill is notably 

 characteristic. Her back was dark olive, while her crest, 

 no less elevated than that of the male, was only-tinged 

 with the showy vermilion which rendered the male so 



