^08 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



the breaking up of the family parties. Before the spring migra- 

 tion there does not seem to be even this slight community. 

 Their food consists entirely of seeds, and their stomachs, there- 

 fore, alv/ays contain a large quantity of gravel. 



Cardinalis virginianus (Briss.) Cardinal Grosbeak — The 

 redbird is abundant in this district at all times of the year, fre- 

 quenting the thickly timbered lands along the banks of the river 

 and its tributary creeks, and even the outlying copses upon the 

 prairie, showing always a decided partiality for the neighbour- 

 hood of water Though resident here and equally common in 

 winter as in summer, the migratory impulse affects the young at 

 least during the fall, and they may frequently be met with then 

 along the fences of prairie farms, remote from any covert. Those, 

 however, which are bred in this county remain here, and the 

 young keep with their parents during the winter in some thicket 

 in the neighbourhood of their birthplace, except indeed when that 

 happens to be in an exposed and isolated position, which is there- 

 upon deserted for the more sheltered brakes of the woodlands ; 

 but, on the approach of spring, the old birds, who remain mated 

 during life, return to their former nesting place. They are very 

 vivacious birds, ever on the move among the branches or pursuing 

 one another from tree to tree, and they are always the tirst to 

 sound the alarm on the approach o£ an intruder to their haunts, 

 whom they follow pertinaciously wherever he goes, incessantly 

 uttering their warning cries, which are well understood by all the 

 members of the feathered race in the neighbourhood. Their song, 

 which is sweet and pleasing, and is given with equal power and 

 volume by the female as well as the male, is continued almost 

 incessantly during the greater part of the year. The nest is 

 placed in a thick bush or in the vines clinging round the trunk 

 of a tree, and is formed of bits of twigs, coarse weeds and dead 

 leaves, lined with grass and fine roots ; the usual number of eggs 

 is five, and two broods are produced in the season. The young 

 are fed entirely on soft grubs and caterpillars, but the parents 

 consume quantities of seeds and corn in addition to these. While 

 engaged in incubation, the birds keep more quiet than at any 

 other time, slipping silently away when the nest is approached, 

 though keeping a sharp lookout all the while; but, when the nest is 

 discovered, they lose all fear and flutter around the intruder with 



