136 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



RED-CRESTED CARDINAL (Paroaria cucullata). 

 Above dark grey, slightly deeper on the nape of the 

 neck, which is spotted with white ; the tail and wing 

 feathers are blackish grey, the latter having pale outer 

 webs ; head, crest, chin, and throat crimson ; a broad 

 belt behind the cheeks and the remainder of under sur- 

 face white ; beak horn-brown, the lower mandible paler 

 than the upper; feet pale greyish-brown; irides hazel. 



THE RKD-CRESTED CARDINAL. 



Female less pure in colour, and. with a narrower, more 

 tapering beak. Hab., South Brazil and Argentina to 

 Bolivia. 



In its wild state the Red-crested. Cardinal nests in 

 thickets from October to about the middle of Novem- 

 ber. The nest is said to be formed of twigs, stalks, and 

 A ine-tendrils, lined with horsehair, and often placed at 

 the end of a branch of a tala-tree, about eight or ten 

 feet above the ground. The eggs, three or four in 

 number, are white, sjpotted (especially at the larger end) 

 with greyish gree-n. 



The song is similar to that of all the Bunting-Car- 

 dinals, tolerably noisy, but scroopy and anything but 

 melodious ; still, it is a lively and beautiful bird, and 

 therefore a general favourite. 



The Red-crested Cardinal is not difficult to breed in 

 a good-sized aviary provided with shrubs ; small yew 

 or box trees would be most suitable. Its nest is not 

 unlike that of a Thrush, but looser in character. I 

 have had several of these nests built in twigs nailed on 

 the wall of one of my aviaries, the male bird doing all 

 the work, and the female merely contenting herself 

 with squatting down and shifting a straw or two in the 

 interior. In a day or two the nest would be pulled to 

 pieces and a new one built, but no eggs were deposited. 

 It is probable that the aviary was hardly spacious 

 enough for these highly excitable and nervous birds. 

 In a cage they soon become fairly tame and confiding, 

 but in a moderate-sized aviary they are almost as wild 



as Cowbirds ; doubtless in a large garden aviary they 

 would do admirably. 



At various times I have had a good many pairs of 

 this Cardinal, but its wildness in an aviary has decided 

 me not to have any more to do with it. All the Car- 

 dinals, however, make charming cagebirds. 



CHAPTER XI. 



GROSBEAKS (Coccothraustince). 



In these birds, according to Dr. Sharpe, the 

 nasal bones are carried backwards to beyond the- 

 anterior line of the eye socket, and the angle of the 

 chin is slighter. The mandibles in all these birds 

 are very broad in proportion to their length, although, 

 this distinction would not of itself suffice to distin- 

 guish them from many other Finches. 



The larger Grosbeaks are generally fond of sunflower- 

 seeds, which should certainly be included in their 

 seed-mixtures ; as a rule they like igreen food and suit. 

 insects. 



VIRGINIAN CARDINAL (Cardinalls cardinalis). 



The upper parts of the male are principally brick - 

 red and the under parts crimson ; a narrow frontal 

 band, the chin and throat are black ; the beak red ;, 

 the iris of the eye reddish-brown; the feet dark grey- 

 ish-brown. The prevailing colour of the female above- 

 is pale olive-brown, below pale buff shading into 

 whitish towards the tail, the webs of the principal. 

 wing feathers and the centre of the tail feathers stained 

 with red ; the thighs and underside of the wings 

 brighter red ; feet pale brown. The young resemble 

 their mother, but are a little paler and duller io 

 colouring. 



The Virginian Cardinal is a native of North 

 America; its range extending southwards as far aa 

 Nicaragua in Central America ; it has eleven slightly 

 modified local races, all ot which have received dis- 

 tinctive names. When at home the nest ot this beau- 

 tiful bird is usually built in some low tree, such as a 

 cedar, yew, holly, in a laurel bush or a thorny thicket, 

 and rarely far from running water. The nest is con- 

 structed of twigs, strips of bark, leaves, and a quantity 

 of dry grasses, and it is lined with finer grasses ; the 

 oggs are oblong oval, white, densely overlaid with 

 brown and pale lavender spots. 



The Rev. Hubert D. Astley has given an interesting 

 account of the breeding of an escaped pair of this 

 species at liberty in England ; owing to the depreda- 

 tions of either a Jay or squirrel the parent birds were- 

 unsuccessful in rearing their offspring, but one of the 

 young birds was hand-reared by the writer. 



In an aviary the Virginian Cardinal will either build 

 in a bush, a, deep nest-box, or a German Canary cage ; 

 the hen sits about fourteen days ; both parents feed 

 the young. When breeding the birds should be sup- 

 plied with plenty of insect-food ; but great caution musft 

 be exercised as regards mealworms, a these are very 

 stimulating, and, if given freely, the parents will bo- 

 tolerably certain to brain their young or throw them 

 out of the nest, and then begin to build again. This, 

 like the other Cardinals, is quite a hardy bird, and will 

 stand the worst English winter without artificial heat. 

 On the other hand it will not stand great heat. The 

 last two males which I possessed were kept in a large 

 double flight on a shelf over the door of my conserra- 

 tory, and one hot day both of them fell from their 

 perches within a minute or two of each other^ blood 

 poured from their mouths, and they died almost instan- 

 taneously : if kept indoors, a cool shady position should 



