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THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 



Fringilla cardinalis, Bonap. 



PLATE CLIX. Male and Female. 



In richness of plumage^ elegance of motion, and strength of song, this 

 species surpasses all its kindred in the United States. It is known by the 

 names of Red Bird, Virginia Nightingale, Cardinal Bird, and that at the 

 head of the present article. It is very abundant in all our Southern 

 States, as well as in the peninsula of the Floridas. In the western coun- 

 try a great number are found as far up on the Ohio as the city of Cincin- 

 nati, and they extend to considerable distances into Indiana, Illinois and 

 Missouri. They are found in the maritime districts of Pennsylvania and 

 New Jersey, where they breed, and where a few remain the whole year ; 

 some are also seen in the State of New York, and now and then a straggler 

 proceeds into Massachusetts ; but farther eastward this species has never 

 been observed. 



This fine songster relishes the interior of the forest, and the heart of 

 the deepest cane-brakes or retired swamps, as well as the neighbourhood 

 of cities. It is constantly found in our fields, orchards and gardens ; 

 nay, it often enters the very streets of our southern towns and villages to 

 breed ; and it is rare that one goes into a planter's yard without observing 

 the Red Bird skipping about the trees or on the turf beneath them. Go 

 where it may, it is always welcome, and every where a favourite, so rich 

 is its song, and so brilliant its plumage. 



The Cardinal Bird breeds in the Floridas. In the beginning of March 

 I found them already paired in that country, and on the 8th of February 

 near General Hernandez's. In the neighbourhood of Charleston, as well 

 as in Louisiana, they are nearly a month later, and much the same lapse 

 of time takes place again before they form a nest in the State of New Jer- 

 sey or in that of Kentucky. 



The nest is placed, apparently without much consideration, in some 

 low briar, bush, or tree, often near the fence, the middle of a field, or the 

 interior of a thicket, not far from a cooling stream, to which they are 

 fond of resorting, for the purpose of drinking and bathing. Sometimes 

 you find it placed close to the planter's house or in his garden, a few 



