AVES— GROSBEAK. 533 



THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK. i 



The cardinal grosbeak is one of our most common cage birds, and is very 

 generally known both in America and Europe. Numbers of these have 

 been carried over to France and England, in which last country they are 

 called Virginia nightingales. They have great clearness and variety of 

 tones ; many of them resemble the clear notes of a fife, and are nearly as 

 loud. They begin in the spring at the first appearance of dawn, and repeat 

 a favorite stanza or passage, twenty or thirty times. His sprightly figure 

 and gaudy plumage, his vivacity, strength of voice, and the little expense 

 with which he is kept, will always make him a favorite. 



This species inhabits America from New England to Carthagena. In the 

 southern states they are the most numerous. They love to reside in the 

 vicinity of fields of corn, a grain that constitutes their chief and favorite 

 food. The seeds of apples, cherries, and many other sorts of fruit, are eaten by 

 them ; and they are accused of destroying bees. They build their nests in 

 a holly, cedar, or laurel bush. It is constructed of twigs and weeds. They 

 are hardy birds, easily kept, sing six or eight months in a year, and are 

 most lively in wet weather. They are known by the names of red-bird, 

 Virginia red-bird, Virginia nightingale, and crested red-bird. 



1 Loxia cardinalis, Lin. 



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