156 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



may fife its loudest, clearest melody at almost any hour 

 of the day. la the breeding season its song is almost as 

 full of enthusiasm and gesticulation as that of the purple 

 finch. His shy ways, in the northern limits of his habitat, 

 as he hops slyly about the thicket in winter, or retires to 

 the deep forest in the breeding season, are strangely in 

 contrast with his familiar ways in the south. There he 

 may dust himself in the highway till you almost trample 

 upon him, may build his nest as near human dwellings as 

 does the thrasher or the mocking-bird, or visit the farm- 

 yard in company with sparrows, jays, and turtle-doves to 

 share the food of the common poultry in winter." 



The cardinal is similar to the rose-breasted grosbeak 

 and the towhee in its apparent dislike for long flights. Its 

 powers of wing are strong, but its flight is marked by the 

 somewhat undulating motion of the Fringillidae. It does 

 not sustain itself in long passages, flitting from point to 

 point rather than continuing to its destination in one 

 course. Nor does it aspire to mount high in the world, 

 but frequents the lower branches of the trees and the tops 

 of the higher bushes in preference to the treetops. It 

 appears to pass its days with little of the bustle and hurry 

 which mark the lives of some of our birds, always easy 

 and graceful in movement, steady and stately in deport- 

 ment, a worthy representative of the first families of the 

 ''Old Dominion." 



INDIGO BUNTINCi. 



How rapidly pass the few summer weeks of bird court- 

 ship, love, and song! To-day is the first of August, and 

 the long, heated afternoon has just begun. The trees 

 about my study window, which were animate with the 

 movements of joj^ous birds earlier in the season, now seem 

 entirely deserted, and droojD their leaves as though they 

 also were influenced by the noontide heat. Some of the 

 birds are yet stirring, however, for in a plum tree yonder 

 the sharp "cheep" of the young catbirds, just led from 

 the nest by their dilator}- parents, comes to my ear, and 

 the low, liquid " quoot " of the elders is heard, announcing 



