BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 245 



ground, in thickets and brush piles, hunting- among the withered leaves 

 and dead twigs. Its rustling scratch is often the only indication one 

 will have of its presence. In addition to various small seeds and insects, 

 Chewinks feed, also, more or less, in the late summer, autumn and win- 

 ter, on different kinds of small fruits and berries. Occasionally, it is 

 said, they visit potato vines and other plants on which the destructive 

 Colorado potato-beetle feeds, and devour many of these troublesome 

 "bugs." 



GENUS CARDINALIS BONAPARTE. 

 Cardinalis cardinalis (LiNN.)- 



Cardinal; Red-bird. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 34). 



Young. Bill blackish; colors duller; otherwise very similar to adult female. 

 The young male soon attains his brightcoat. Length about 9 inches ; extent about 12. 



Habitat. Eastern United States, north to New Jersey and the Ohio valley (cas- 

 ually larther) west to the plains. 



The Cardinal, or Winter Bed-bird, as it is generally called, is a rather 

 plentiful resident in the lower half of Pennsylvania, but in other sections 

 of our state it is found chiefly as a rare or occasional visitor. The showy 

 dress, the fine and varied vocal powers of this shy and vivacious whistler, 

 are such that it is one of our most common and entertaining 1 cage birds. 

 Although usually found inhabiting briery thickets and wooded districts 

 in the vicinage of rivers, ponds and swampy localities, these birds, 

 mostly in winter, when pressed by hunger, and also occasionally in sum- 

 mer, when in a measure they lack their usual vigilance and shyness, 

 come about our yards, houses and barns in search of food, or to cheer 

 and enliven us with their bright presence and pleasing notes. In the 

 southern states and elsewhere where Bed-birds are much more numerous 

 than in Pennsylvania, they at times assemble in large companies during 

 the winter in swampy thickets ; in midwinter, with us, parties of a dozen 

 or fifteen individuals are sometimes observed in similar situations. This 

 species is generally seen in pairs, though in the late summer and fall 

 the adults and young of the year of a single family are frequently found 

 together. The nest, a loosely-built structure composed of twigs, weed 

 stems, fibers of grape-vine bark, grasses or other vegetable materials, is 

 built in bushes, vines and low trees. I have never found a nest situated 

 over six or eight feet from the ground. The eggs, two to four in num- 

 ber (usually three), are white or bluish-white, spotted with different 

 shades of brown. They measure about one inch in length by three- 

 fourths of an inch in width. Feeds on seeds of numerous plants, especiaUy 

 those of rank weeds and grasses ; corn, wheat, rye and oats are also eaten. 

 They feed morp or less on insects, chief among which are beetles, grass- 



