THE VIRGINIAN CARDINAL. 85 



alighting on the top of a tall bush, and from bush to tree-top they flew, 

 until at last they met almost directly in front of me upon a low tree, and 

 then flew rapidly away in company. Precisely, in the same fashion, I 

 have called when in the woodlands, to a comrade lost for the time from 

 my sight, and so he has answered me, and each answering the other, 

 we have made our way toward each other, and have at last rejoined each 

 other. The birds did exactly what two hunters under like circumstances 

 would have done. The birds shewed good sense." 



Speaking of the silence and darkness of the bird-room at night, 

 where it is scarcely possible to believe that about two hundred living 

 beings are breathing, Dr. Russ says : - "It makes a peculiar impression 

 upon me, if in the middle of the darkness and quiet, suddenly a loud 

 long-drawn sound peals out, which from time to time is repeated. We 

 are, indeed, accustomed to hear bird songs only in the bright sunshine, 

 or to listen to the plaint of the Nightingale at least by the silvery light 

 of the moon. But in any case we find these sounds, which continually 

 increase in number, and at length pass into a coherent song, throughout 

 euphonious and pleasant. The singer is just the Red Cardinal." 



The three cock birds which I have had never sang at night ; I 

 wish they had, for one can appreciate a song so much better in the 

 darkness when all other birds are still. The first part of the song of the 

 Indigo Bunting always seems fuller and louder when shouted in the 

 dusk of the evening, than at other times ; and, in a large aviary it may 

 always be heard long after siindown, during the summer months. 

 Wiener's statement that " In the aviary lie will live in silence and peace " 

 must refer to some other bird, unless his specimens were all very ill. 



I cannot refrain from quoting the amusing account of a caged 

 Cardinal, from the pen of that charming American writer Mrs. Olive 

 Thorne Miller : " He is a cynic, morose and crusty. His world is 

 hollow and his cage is his castle, which he declines to leave for an 

 instant, although the door stands open from morning till night. Above 

 all, he is captious on the subject of his rights, and insists on having 

 them respected. To have a bird perch near his door is offensive in the 

 extreme, and alighting on his cage is a crime which stirs him to fury. 

 He despises his restless neighbours, and feels no need of exercise 

 himself. He sits not stands, like most birds on his chosen perch 

 hour after hour, leaving it only to eat ; and I think that if his food were 

 within reach of this seat he would not rise half a dozen times a day. 

 His only recreation is music, in which he indulges freely ; and his song 

 has a curious quality of defiance in it, quite consistent with his character. 

 His notes indicate a more gentle sentiment only in the morning, before 



