CARDINAL. 363 



the cooler and Middle States retire to the South at the com- 

 mencement of winter ; though a few linger in the sheltered 

 swamps of Pennsylvania and near the shores of the Delaware 

 almost through the winter. They also, at this season, probably 

 assemble towards the sea-coast from the west, in most of the 

 Southern States, where roving and skulking timid families are 

 now seen flitting silently through thickets and swampy woods, 

 eager alone to glean a scanty subsistence, and defend them- 

 selves from prowling enemies. At all times, however, they 

 appear to have a predilection for watery groves and shaded 

 running streams, abounding with evergreens and fragrant mag- 

 nolias, in which they are so frequent as to be almost concomi- 

 tant with the scene. But though they usually live only in 

 families or pairs, and at all times disperse into these selective 

 groups, yet in severe weather, at sunset, in South Carolina, I 

 observed a flock passing to a roost in a neighboring swamp 

 and bushy lagoon, which continued, in lengthened file, to fly 

 over my head at a considerable height for more than twenty 

 minutes together. The beautiful procession, illumined by the 

 last rays of the setting sun, was incomparably splendid as the 

 shifting shadowy light at quick intervals flashed upon their 

 brilliant livery. They had been observed to pass in this man- 

 ner to their roost for a considerable time, and, at daybreak, 

 they were seen again to proceed and disperse for subsistence. 

 How long this timid and gregarious habit continues, I cannot 

 pretend to say ; but by the first week in February the song of 

 the Redbird was almost daily heard. As the season advances, 

 roving pairs, living, as it were, only with and for each other, flit 

 from place to place ; and following also their favorite insect or 

 vegetable fare, many proceed back to the same cool region in 

 which they were bred, and from which they were reluctantly 

 driven • while others, impelled by interest, caprice, and adven- 

 ture, seek to establish new families in the most remote limits of 

 their migration. Some of these more restless wanderers occa- 

 sionally, though rarely, favor this part of New England with a 

 visit. After listening with so much delight to the lively fife of 

 the splendid Cardinal, as I travelled alone through the deep and 



