FOUR RED BIRDSi ; 125 



found as frequently in the most exposed situations as 

 in sheltered nooks. It too often happens that wh^n 

 any bird is seen a few times in some one locality, it is 

 thought that such places are universally its favorite 

 haunts. In the case of the cardinal, it is only true that 

 they avoid exposure to the wind. I have often heard 

 them singing, while perched upon a hyssop or mullein 

 stalk, when the ground was covered deep with snow, 

 and the thermometer at zero. Let the wind spring up, 

 and they are gone in an instant, and a week may pass 

 without seeing or hearing them again. But to see 

 them, in winter, to advantage, find a clump of bitter- 

 sweet bushes on the hill-side, where the sun shines with 

 some vigor, and not a breath of north wind can reach 

 you. There the cardinal loves to linger from dawn to 

 gloaming, and whistle he never so carefully, no notes 

 excel those of his midwinter days. Wilson says fur- 

 ther, they are in song from March to September. True, 

 but they are far more so from September to March. 

 They are in the height of their glory in the height of 

 the season, and sing louder and sweeter songs during 

 the Christmas holidays than in May or June, when the 

 nest and young occupy their time and attention. Un- 

 less the matter is an omission on the part of Wilson, 

 there has evidently a considerable change taken place 

 in the habits of the cardinal. 



On the home hill -side cardinals nest every summer, 

 choosing generally a tangled clump of blackberry-briers. 

 They seldom go elsewhere, and always pick out as 

 tangled and thorny a locality as can be found. It has 

 sometimes seemed as if they had arranged the briers 



