The Cardinal Family. 



the genus Gubernatrix, of which it forms the sole 

 representative : as well as the three preceding species, 

 which constitute the genus Paroaria, it is placed in 

 the family Fringillidae but erroneously so, I think, 

 seeing that the Cardinals are, all of them, as much 

 insectivorous in their choice of food as granivorous, 

 or perhaps more so, and feed their young entirely 

 on insects of all kinds. 



FIG. 2. THE VIRGINIAN NIGHTINGALE. 



THE CARDINAL GROSSBEAK, or VIRGINIAN NIGHT- 

 INGALE, Cardinalis virgtnianus (illustrated at Fig. 2), 

 is a handsome bird, about the size of a thrush, that 

 is very frequently imported from the southern parts 

 of North America; like the rest of the members of the 

 family to which it belongs, it will eat seed, fruit, and 

 insects, but if kept on an exclusively granivorous diet 

 it is frequently unable to reproduce its feathers in 

 which case it generally dies of atrophy or decline. 



