AVES—GROSBEAK. 533 
THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK! 

Tue cardinal grosbeak is one of our most common cage birds, and is very 
genera.ly 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. 
45* 
