574 THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 



tail, tinged with vermilion; her chin, front and lores, deep 

 dusky if less brilliant, she is scarcely less beautiful than 

 her gay consort. 



The loud, sprightly, and somewhat varied whistling, 

 which constitutes the song of the Cardinal, has always 

 commanded admiration. In those southern climes where 

 the species finds its most congenial home, and where 

 it is an abundant resident throughout the year, it is in 

 song from March till September. Nor does it render a 

 mere matin or vesper hymn, but may fife its loudest, clear- 

 est melody at almost any hour of the day. In the breed- 

 ing season its song is almost as full of enthusiasm and ges- 

 ticulation as that of the Purple Finch. His shy ways, in 

 the. northern limits of his habitat, as he hops slyly about 

 the thicket in winter, or retires to the deep forest in the 

 breeding season, are strangely in contrast with his familiar 

 ways in the south. There he may dust himself in the high- 

 way till you almost trampled upon him, may build his 

 nest as near human dwellings as does the Thrasher or the 

 Mockingbird, or visit the farm-yard in company with Spar- 

 rows, Jays and Turtle-doves, to share the food of the com- 

 mon poultry in winter. Everywhere his bright figure and 

 sprightly ways render him welcome. Being readily caught 

 in a figure-four or trap cage, and thriving on almost any 

 kind of food, he is in great favor as a cage-bird of beauty 

 and of song. In the early history of our country he be- 

 came almost a commercial item, being carried to the Old 

 World in great numbers, where the admirers of his sprightly 

 melody called him the Virginia Nightingale. 



The nest of the Cardinal is in a bush or tree, somewhat 

 after the manner of the Catbird, in the north, or the Mock- 

 ingbird, in the south; and is made of dry leaves, small 

 twigs, strips of bark from the grape-vine, and coarse grasses, 



