126 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



with a view to extra prickiness. This serves, no doubt, 

 to keep meddlesome creatures away, and probably 

 neither squirrels, snakes, or blue -jays molest them. 

 Certainly, all such broods as I have found came to 

 maturity. 



In the latter part of summer these birds are skulkers. 

 They flit about in tangled bushes, and seldom show 

 tliemselves or sing during August and the first weeks 

 of September. They may be moulting at this time, 

 and, at all events, keep so much out of the way that the 

 unpractised observer would probably overlook them. 

 The cool days of the coming winter changes all this. 

 When titmice and nuthatches aim to monopolize the 

 woods, and troops of twittering tree-sparrows crowd the 

 fields, then the cardinal again asserts his supremacy 

 and out-warbles all the host of winter songsters. 



Of course, in leafless woods, the bright red plumage 

 is a detriment to this bird, or would be, if increased in- 

 telligence did not enable it to obviate the inconvenience 

 of being too conspicuous. The smaller hawks are the 

 principal source of danger, and yet I have never discov- 

 ered that red -birds suffer more than the dull -colored 

 sparrows. The truth is — and herein lies the evidence 

 of the bird's cunning — that it always scans its surround- 

 ings closely, the moment it alights on the top of a 

 bunch of briers, and then, satisfied of its safety, sings ; 

 furthermore, it stays mostly in dense thickets, and 

 comes up from below, instead of making a considerable 

 open - air circuit, before alighting. At the first faint 

 intimation of danger, it will cut short its song and dive 

 into the tangled depths. 



