SOME MINOR SONG-BIRDS. 159 
studied than his sweet and powerful vocaliza- 
tion. His notes are few, but the compass and 
volume of his voice, and the vivid force of ex- 
pression he commands, are without rival. 
Not even the mocking-bird can equal him in 
his one circle of execution. He sings with 
true American energy, flinging out his notes 
as if from a clarion. His attitudes are those 
of unbounded self-confidence; he appears to 
claim the whole world as his own, as he stands 
bolt upright on a bough, his crest erect, his 
bold eyes flashing, and his voice leaping out 
with the impulse of a diminutive steam-whistle. 
He is a wary, shy, swift bird, but his color ex- 
poses him to the watchful collector, who is 
ever eager to take him. The cardinal’s nest 
is well-built, usually set in a tangled place of 
a thicket. Its eggs are of a mottled reddish- 
brown color. 
In the region of Tallulah Falls I met with 
an old man whose chief business was snaring 
red-birds (cardinals) for the sake of their skins, 
which he sold to a New York firm for use in 
millinery decorations. Most of his work was 
done in the mating season, when with a trained 
decoy-bird and a cage furnished with side- 
springes, he took great numbers. The method 
was to hang the cage, of open wire-work, with 
a live male bird in it, on a bough in the midst 
ofa thicket. The springes at the sides of the 
cage were so arranged that no sooner did a 
visiting bird alight thereon than he was caught. 
‘The captive left alone calls loudly and is an- 
swered by a female who comes near. This 
excites the jealousy of her lord, who dashes at 
the cage and dies. The old man had four of 
these murderous contrivances, and was reaping 
