52 CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 



being, at that time, almost the only music of the season. Along the 

 road sides and fences I found them hovering in half dozens together, 

 associated with snow birds and various kinds of sparrows. In the 

 Northern States they are migratory ; but in the lower parts of Penn- 

 sylvania they reside during the whole year, frequenting the borders of 

 creeks and rivulets, in sheltered hollows covered with holly, laurel, and 

 other evergreens. They love also to reside in the vicinity of fields of 

 Indian corn, a grain that constitutes their chief and favorite food. The 

 seeds of apples, cherries, and of many other sorts of fruit, are also 

 eaten by them ; and they are accused of destroying bees. 



In the months of March and April the males have many violent 

 engagements for their favorite females. Early in May in Pennsylvania 

 they begin to prepare their nest, which is very often fixed in a hollow, 

 cedar or laurel bush. Outwardly it is constructed of small twigs, tops 

 of dry weeds, and slips of vine bark, and lined with stalks of fine grass. 

 The female lays four eggs thickly marked all over with touches of 

 brownish olive, on a dull white ground, as represented in the figure ; 

 and they usually raise two broods in the season. These birds are rarely 

 raised from the nest for singing, being so easily taken in- trap cages, 

 and soon domesticated. By long confinement, and perhaps unnatural 

 food, they are found to fade in color, becoming of a pale whitish red. 

 If well taken care of, however, they will live to a considerable age. 

 There was in Mr. Peale's museum, the stuffed skin of one of these 

 birds, which was there said to have lived in a cage upward of twenty-one 

 years. 



The opinion which so generally prevails in England, that the music 

 of the groves and woods of America is far inferior to that of Europe, 

 I, who have a thousand times listened to both, cannot admit to be cor- 

 rect. We cannot with fairness draw a comparison between the depth 

 of the forest in America, and the cultivated fields of England ; because 

 it is a well known fact, that singing birds seldom frequent the former, 

 in any country. But let the latter places be compared with the like 

 situations in the United States, and the superiority of song, I am fully 

 persuaded, would justly belong to the western continent. The few of 

 our song birds that have visited Europe extort admiration from the best 

 judges. " The notes of the Cardinal Grosbeak," says Latham, " are 

 almost equal to those of the Nightingale." Yet these notes, clear, and 

 excellent as they are, are far inferior to those of the Wood Thrush ; 

 and even to those of the Brown Thrush or Thrasher. Our inimitable 

 Mocking-bird is also acknowledged, by themselves, to be fully equal to 

 the song of the Nightingale "in its whole compass." Yet these are 

 not one-tenth of the number of our singing birds. Could these people 

 be transported to the borders of our woods and settlements, in the 



