256 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



That is the time to make friends with them. A few 

 crumbs scattered near the door will usually accomplish 

 this. One winter we regularly threw the crumbs from 

 the table a few feet from the kitchen door. It did not take 

 long for the birds to learn this, and a pair of cardinals were 

 the most regular patrons of that lunch counter. Soon 

 they were waiting in the trees that grew in the yard long 

 before feeding time came. They did not hesitate to alight 

 on the railing of the porch and peep in at the window if 

 the crumbs did not arrive when they thought they should. 

 Finally they took up their abode in our yard and nested in 

 a cedar tree. Cardinals prefer to nest in such well con- 

 cealed places, for then the mother bird is hard to see when 

 on the nest. 



The male cardinal assisted in building the nest, but then 

 his work was done until the young were hatched. The 

 males of many birds divide with their mates the tedious 

 work of sitting, but not so the cardinal. The female car- 

 dinal may feel very proud of her gorgeous colored lord, but 

 the labor of doing all the sitting is the price she must 

 pay for this luxury. Her lord is so brilliantly colored 

 that neither he nor the nest would be safe were he to sit. 

 He does his best to make up for this, however, by singing 

 and whistling by the hour in some nearby tree to entertain 

 his wife. He is no flirt, neither will he tolerate the pres- 

 ence of a rival in what he regards as his domain. Should 

 another female cardinal come near his nest, he pays not the 

 least attention to her; but should a male come, he attacks 

 him fiercely and drives him from the vicinity. 



The cardinal lays three, four, or five eggs that vary some- 

 what in color from gray to clear white. Ordinarily they 

 raise two broods in a year. The male is active feeding 



