THE OOLOGIST. 



209 



one uosl to iriothcr, I reraembei- read- 

 ing somew];;'ri; of ii fjivmor who, while 

 ploughing a ticld, Hushed a Quail from 

 her nest ;ilinost under tlie horses feet. 

 Not wishing to oreak up the happy 

 home, liL! ('avefally removed them a 

 s-hort disuur'i' to a bed of "T^rass made 

 for tJii' pur.)ose. On returnimg an 

 hour or two afterwards, he found the 

 egg^, gone, and dui'ing the eourse of 

 the afternoon, the Quail was discovered 

 sit ling contentedly on her eggs in a 

 ffiice corner 100 yards away. 



J also recollect reading another in- 

 teresting anecdote of a Robin, transfer- 

 ji!g lier eggs from one nest to another 

 iiciore tlie last nest was hardly finished. 



In conclusion, I will do myself the 

 iionor of saying that Davie's Nests and 

 i'jggs of North American Birds is the 

 Lest book of its kind I ever saw. 

 Yours Truly, 



J. Claire Wood. 



The Cardinal Grosbeak. 



The Redbird.as it is c(»i"iraonly called, 

 is one of the most abundant birds in 

 Kentucky and one that has attracted as 

 inucji attention as any. Its sprightly 

 figure, its gaudy plumage and its vi- 

 vacity do not fail to make it one of our 

 best knov/n songst'^-rs. 



The Cardinal is' yometiuies ealled the 

 Virginia Nightingale on account of its 

 clearness and strength of voice and 

 note, many of them resembling the 

 slight notes of a tife and are nearly as 

 loud. They Ix'giu their song with the 

 tirst appearance (.>f dawn and frequent- 

 ly, with little intermission; sing for a 

 whole morning together. 



The whole upper part of the Cardi- 

 nal's body is a dusky red except the 

 side of the neck and head, which, witli 

 the lower parts, are a bright ^'e^raillion, 

 The liead is ornamented witli a crest or 

 topnot. 



The female is smaller, but there is 

 not much difference in the plumage. 



It is not a migratory bird, but re- 

 mains with us throughout the . entire 

 winter months, and as seen flitting 

 throughout the leafless forests, its bril- 

 liant plumage contrasts strangely with 

 the stark and fiozen branches of the 

 trees, the bleak surroundings and gen- 

 erally dismal aspect, bringing back to 

 the collector memories of spring and 

 summer, when the selfsame woods were 

 green witli leaves, and the forest aisles 

 tilled with sunshine, and feathered 

 songsters of all description twitted and 

 sported away the golden hours, filling 

 the air witlu their sweet carols from 

 early morn 'till dewy eve. 



The Cin-dinal generally breeds in a 

 thicket of scrubby bushes not far from 

 the outskirts. Half the time a scrubby 

 thorn tree is selected for the nesting 

 site, which is situated four or five feet 

 from the ground. It is composed of 

 coarse grass, vegetable sprigs, fine 

 twigs, bark of grapevine, and lined 

 with finer grasses and hair. 



Davie, in his third-edition, intimates 

 that tlie number of eggs found in a 

 cluti-h are three or four, as many of 

 one number as of the other. In this 

 section I find that three-fourths of the 

 sets found contain only three eggs. 



The ground color of the egg is gen- 

 erally a dull white, sometimes with a 

 tinge of green, with lavender and red- 

 dish-brown -spots and blotches distrib- 

 uted over the entire surface. 



I have in my possession the finest 

 set of eggs of this bird that has ever 

 come under my notice. They were 

 taken about a mile from Lebanon. The 

 nest was placed in a low pine tree about 

 four feet from the ground. The ground 

 color of the eggs was of a greenish hue 

 and the markings are so heavy and 

 large that they cover nearly the entire 

 surface. Incubation Avas fresh, and 

 nmnber of eggs, four. 



A. C. L., Lebanon, Ky. 



