F R I N G 1 L L I D M. 



543 



that America produces several very fine song birds, 

 and some which are, perhaps, fully equal to the best 

 of any other country ; yet still there is some reason 

 to consider that the above picture is a little overdrawn. 

 Certain it i, that persons from this continent are, in 

 general, much disappointed with the music of the 

 American groves, at least when they expect to find 

 it surpass, or even approach to that which enlivens 

 the woodlands and the fields of Europe. Even the 

 mocking- bird, unquestionably the prince of American 

 songsters (as we have heard a sufficiently competent 

 judge in these matters declare), though his own native 

 notes would raise him to the very foremost rank of 

 feathered musicians in any country, for the most part 

 amuses rather by the correctness of his imitations of 

 various discordant sounds, than charms the ear by 

 the harmonious melody of his voice. Wilson himself 

 never heard the nightingale of Europe, nor, from the 

 descriptions he had read of it, was he aware that it 

 sings much more by day than in the night ; and he, 

 therefore, institutes a comparison, and contrasts for- 

 cibly the music of the mocking bird, which is heard 

 above every other in open day, with the voice of the 

 European Philomel, of which even the bard of Avon 

 says (and Wilson quotes the passage), that 



" if she could sing: by day 



When every goose is cackling, would be thought 

 No better a musician than the wren." 



But Shakspeare himself here sacrifices minute 

 accuracy for poetic efi'ect, as all who have lived in 

 neighbourhoods where nightingales pass the summer 

 must be well aware of. Those who are familiar with 

 the European bird, will at once fully recognise the 

 force of the following passage, quoted from Wilson's 

 description of the American mocking bird, and applied 

 to the nightingale of this continent. " In his native 

 groves, mounted on the top of a tall bush, or half- 

 grown tree, in the dawn of dewy morning, while the 

 woods are already vocal with a multitude of warblers, 

 his admirable song rises pre-eminent over every com- 

 petitor. The ear can listen to his music alone, to 

 which that of all the others is a mere accompaniment." 

 But we are now wandering much from the proper 

 subjects of this present article, and the merits of the 

 so-called Virginia nightingales have, by degrees, led 

 us to consider those of the "leader of the vernal song" 

 in Europe. 



" The males of the cardinal grosbeak," continues 

 Wilson, : ' when confined together in a cage, fight 

 violently. On placing a looking-glass before the cage, 

 the gesticulations of the tenant are truly laughable ; 

 yet with this he soon becomes so well acquainted, 

 that, in a short time, he takes no notice whatever of 

 it ; a pretty good proof that he has discovered the 

 true cause of the appearance to proceed from himself. 

 They are hardy birds, easily kept, sing six or eight 

 mouths in the year, and are most lively in wet weather. 

 They are generally known by the names, red bird, 

 Virginia red bird, Virginia nightingale, and crested 

 red bird, to distinguish them from another beautiful 

 species, the red py range (Pyranga rubra), one of the 

 Tanagrmce. 



" One peculiarity in the female of this species is, 

 that she often sin^s nearly as well as the male. I do 

 not, know whether it be owing to some little jealousy 

 on this score or not, that the male, when both occupy 

 the same cage, very often destroys the female." Upon 

 the whole, there are several traits here recorded of 

 the red cardinal, which certainly accord very strik- 



ingly with the European bullfinch. Their food is the 

 same, each subsisting much on the seeds of various 

 berries, and the plumage of both is of the same pecu- 

 liar soft texture, unlike that of most other FringUfidce. 

 The female bullfinch sings quite as well as the male, 

 and as to quarrelsomeness in confinement, we have 

 known a female bullfinch to attack and destroy another 

 which was placed for a few minutes only in its cage. 



ROSE-BREASTED CARDINAL (G. rosca), by some 

 writers styled G. Ludoviciana, although so far from 

 being common in Louisiana, as the latter name would 

 imply, neither Wilson nor his coritinuator, C. L. Bona- 

 parte, were able to furnish any instance of its occur- 

 ring in that territory. Not but that it may occasion- 

 ally be found there, as the common waxwing some- 

 times straggles into Bohemia, but it certainly has no 

 more claim to the specific title Ltidoriciana, than the 

 waxwing has to its common designation of Bohemian. 

 If names are to have any meaning at all, surely they 

 are not to convey erroneous impressions ; and it is 

 time, now that all such misleading appellations were 

 expunged from our catalogues of objects of natural 

 history, or, at least, that they were retailed only as 

 synonymous till more appropriate designations had 

 come into' general use. The rose cardinal appears 

 to be a more northern species than the last, but in 

 winter has been observed in Mexico. Wilson says, 

 " this elegant species is rarely found in the lower parts 

 of Pennsylvania, in the state of New York, and those 

 of New England ; it is more frequently observed, 

 particularly in fall, when the berries of the same year 

 are ripe, on the kernels of which it eagerly feeds. 

 Some of its trivial names would import that it is also 

 an inhabitant of Louisiana, but F have not heard of 

 its being seen in any of the southern states. A gen- 

 tleman of Middleton, Connecticut, informs me, that 

 he kept one of these birds for some considerable time 

 in a cage, and observed that it frequently sang at 

 night, and all night ; that its notes were extremely 

 clear and mellow, and the sweetest of any bird with 

 which he was acquainted." 



" Its recent discovery in Mexico," observes Bona- 

 parte, "is an interesting fact, and we may safely con- 

 clude that this bird migrates extensively according to 

 season, spending the summer in the north, or in the 

 mountains, and breeding there, and in winter retiring 

 southward, or descending into the plains ; being, how- 

 ever, by no means common in any known district, or 

 at any season, though, perhaps, more frequent on the 

 borders of Lake Ontario. Its favourite abode is large 

 forests, where it afreets the densest and most gloomy 

 retreats. The nest is placed among the thick foliage 

 of trees, and is constructed of twigs outside.and lined 

 with fine grasses within ; the female lays four or five 

 white eggs, spotted with brown. This may also be 

 called an ' evening grosbeak,' for it sings during the 

 solemn stillness of night, uttering a clear, mellow, and 

 harmonious note." 



| This species is eight inches and a half long, and 

 thirteen in extent. The whole upper parts are black, 

 with the exception of the white stripes across the 

 wing ; neck, throat, and upper part of the breast, 

 black ; lower part of the breast, middle of the belly, 

 j and lining of the wings, of a fine lively carmine or rose 

 colour ; tail forked, black, with the three outer feathers 

 white at the tips of their inner vane? ; bill pure white ; 

 legs and feet light blue. These colours are not fully 

 acquired until the second year. The female is rather 

 smaller, with the bill horn colour, instead of white ; 



