THK VIRGIXIAX CARDINAL. 81 



into my outdoor aviary, sings a combination of whit and cliow, usually 

 commencing " whit-whit-whit-whit-whit, cfim*.\ c/icm\< ; ckow-ckow-chow-ckow- 

 cJiow-cliow" and .so on. 



At the same time, compared with the performances of the Bunting 

 Cardinals of South America, the song of Cardinal is is undoubtedly 

 praiseworthy ; it is clear, loud and musical, and is industriously 

 persevered in ; but I cannot agree with Alexander Wilson, who says that 

 its notes " both in a wild and domestic state, are very various," or that 

 " many of them resemble the high notes of a fife." The singing season 

 is " from March to September, beginning at the first appearance of 

 dawn, and repeating a favourite stanza, or passage, twenty or thirty 

 times successively, sometimes with little intermission for a whole 

 morning together, which like a good story too often repeated, becomes 

 at length tiresome and insipid." (Can it be credited that this paragraph 

 is from the same pen ?) He adds " In the Northern States, they are 

 migratory ; but in the lower parts of Pennsylvania, 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 favourite food. The seeds of apples, 

 cherries, and many other sorts of fruits are also eaten by them ; and they 

 are accused of destroying bees." 



In the months of March and April, the males have violent engage- 

 ments for their favourite females. Early in May, in Pennsylvania, 

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

 cedar, or laurel bush." 



According to other writers, the nest is often built in a low tree, 

 cedar or yew, or in a thorny thicket, and rarely far from running water. 

 It is constructed of twigs, strips of bark, leaves and a quantity of dry 

 grasses, and is lined with finer grasses. The eggs are oblong-oval, 

 white, densely overlaid with brown and pale lavender spots. 



Speaking of the Yucatan race (C. coccineus) Mr. G. F. Gaumer says 

 that it is " Common in all parts, quite shy, and always met in pairs. 

 It is alike prized for its sweet song and for its bright plumage. Its food 

 is mostly seeds. It frequents open lands, or the outskirts of towns." 



Mr. Edward Bartlett, in his Monograph of Weavers, and Finches, 

 says, that the brilliant plumage, and song combined, make the Virginian 

 Cardinal "one of the most conspicuous objects throughout the swamp 

 and forest land of the Southern States. These two great qualities 

 might have been the destruction of this much eulogized swamp-loving 

 bird, had it not been for the vast territory which it occupies, for not 



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