THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 197 



of North America. According to recent accounts, it has been 

 met with in Courland ; though it is more likely that the bird 

 seen was either one that had escaped from captivity, or a speci- 

 men of the Pine Grosbeak. Its beak is strong, and, like its 

 feet, light red ; the iris very dark brown. The head is adorned 

 with a crest, the feathers of which, when erect, meet in a point. 

 The part round the beak, and the throat, are black ; the rest 

 of the bird a beautiful light red. The quill feathers and tail 

 are paler in colour, and towards the front, almost brown. 



The female is generally of a reddish brown. 



Observations. The very pleasant song of this bird, which 

 bears a strong resemblance to that of the Nightingale, is the 

 reason why the name "Virginia Nightingale " has been given 

 to it. It sings all the year round, except while moulting, and 

 so loud as to make the ears tingle. In its wild state it feeds 

 on maize and buck wheat of which it often collects heaps, 

 covering them carefully with leaves and branches, and leaving 

 open only a single hole as an entrance to its magazine. In 

 captivity it will live many years, if fed with millet, canary, 

 rape, and hemp-seed. The attempt has been made, I know 

 not with what success, to breed these birds, in detached aviaries 

 placed in gardens. 



ADDITIONAL. With us this species is known only as a Cage- 

 bird. We commonly call it the Virginia Nightingale, a name to 

 which, as Dr. LATHAM observes, it is fully entitled, for its notes 

 are almost equal to those of the Nightingale. These notes, 

 WILSON tells us, both in a wild and domestic state, are very 

 various and musical, some of them resembling the shrill notes of 

 a fife. "The birds are in song from March to September, begin- 

 ning at the first appearance of dawn, and repeating a favourite 

 stanza or passage twenty or thirty times successively ; sometimes 

 with little intermission for a whole morning together, which, like 

 a good story too often repeated, becomes at length tiresome and 

 insipid. But the sprightly figure and gaudy plumage of the Red 

 Bird, his vivacity, strength of voice, and actual variety of note, 

 and the little expense with which he is kept, will always make 

 him a favourite." 



This author asserts that the story of the birds collecting great 

 hoards of maize and buckwheat, &c., and concealing them in the 

 artful way above described, is altogether fabulous. He also de- 

 scribes the cock birds as extremely pugnacious, and says of the 

 female that she often sings nearly as well as the male, by which, 

 when both occupy the same cage, she is often destroyed, owing, 

 it may be, to some little jealousy on this icore. 



