332 Trees, Stars, and Birds 



Do you think such a diet accounts for their beauty and 

 musical ability? If so, how about their habit of eating 

 Colorado potato beetles? The man who has no appre- 

 ciation of music or color may, nevertheless, realize the 

 value of a family of rose-breasted grosbeaks in the vicin- 

 ity of a potato patch. They eat also various other in- 

 jurious insects, the good they do in this way amounting 

 to much more than the harm they do in fruit trees. Un- 

 fortunately, these fine birds have become rare in many 

 places where they were formerly rather common. This 

 is thought to be due to their having been poisoned with 

 Paris green by eating potato beetles. The black-headed 

 grosbeak is common in suitable woodland from the Plains 

 to the Pacific. Its nest, eggs, and habits are like those 

 of the rose-breasted grosbeak. 



The cardinal. The cardinal is a kind of grosbeak 

 and is easily distinguished from all other birds by its 

 brilliant red color, large red beak, and prominent crest 

 or topknot. It is larger than a scarlet tanager, and its 

 wings and tail are not black. Tanagers are with us only 

 in summer, but cardinals remain throughout the year, as 

 far north as Lake Erie. The plumage of the male cardi- 

 nal is mostly of a bright rosy red, but black about the 

 bill ; the female has the wings, tail, and crest dull red, 

 the back olive-brownish. Both birds sing well, the song 

 of the male being a loud, clear whistle, Pretty, pretty, 

 pretty. 



Cardinals occur as far north as central Michigan and are 

 increasing in numbers. They are common throughout 

 the Southern states, where they make themselves useful 

 in the cotton fields by eating insects that feed on the 



