ZOOLOGY. 63 
one occasion in considerable numbers. They frequent the 
marshes, where the ripe panicles of seed, from the reeds and 
sedge, offer an ample abundance of their favourite food. 
Two male specimens of this bird, purchased in the market 
at New York, in May, 1855, and brought to England, sung 
throughout the summer, and retained the varied plumage 
of the male bird to November following. One of them then 
died ; the other continued its song through another summer, 
and during the whole period it was in my possession, it 
never assumed the brown and yellow plumage of the female, 
which I had been accustomed to see in the Bermudas ; 
I acknowledge myself unable to account for this circum- 
stance. 
CARDINAL GROSBEAK (P2tylus Cardinalis). This beautiful 
bird is abundant in the Bermudas, being one of the few per- 
manent residents of those islands. It is found in every 
garden, and in every grove of cedars, which it enlivens by 
the brilliancy of its plumage, and the cheerful repetition of 
its short, unassuming, but pleasing song. It builds twice 
in the year, the first brood leaving the nest early in April, 
and the second in June. 
A favourite sport with the boys of Bermuda, is the cap- 
ture of the “red bird” (under which name the cardinal gros- 
beak is known to the inhabitants), in a very primitive, yet 
never failing trap, constructed of the stems of the common 
sage bush (Lantana salvifolia). The stems are held together 
by a stout string attached to the lower corners of the struc- 
ture, and the centre stick of the roof or cover. By twisting 
the latter round any degree of tension is acquired. Baited 
with grains of maize, it is seldom the Cardinal Grosbeak 
will refuse to enter it. The formation of this simple, yet 
