24 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



A Cardinals Nest 



(The following article written by a 7th Grade School Boy, is an ex- 

 cellent illustration of the value of patient and persistent observation. There 

 is need for a great many observations of this kind, and the article is com- 

 mended to the attention of observers of all ages). 



If you remember, in the Spring Bulletin of 1920, Mrs. Mosely of 

 Highland Park, told of a pair of Cardinals feeding on her shelf, but that 

 she had never been able to find their nest. She thought it might be in a 

 ravine north of her house. My home overlooks this ravine and I had 

 been looking in vain for the Cardinal's nest for two years. 



On Sunday morning, May 23, 1920, my mother, my sister, and I were 

 walking in a neighbor's yard which also overlooks the same ravine, when we 

 saw a male Cardinal fly from over the bluff's edge to the grass in front of 

 us. After he fed for a while, he flew to some shrubbery near by and sang 

 in low tones, then flew back to the grass again. I said to Mother, "There 

 must be a nest there." 



I walked to the bushes which were between two stretches of open lawn, 

 and stumbled right on to the nest, frightening the female off. I was 

 afraid to look into the nest for fear of frightening the birds more. The 

 female then returned to her nest. Later Miss Cramer and I went back 

 and I ventured to look in. I saw three little mouths wide open. The 

 birds had apparently just hatched because I found the shells on the 

 ground beneath the nest. We watched for more than an hour that fore- 

 noon and saw the male go to the nest several times. We thought he carried 

 food. The female remained quietly on the nest. In the afternoon she 

 left the nest once to feed. She flew to the ground chirping and the male 

 immediately came to her. They sat for a time about six inches apart 

 looking steadily at each other, then touched beaks. Later he seemed to 

 have found food and she reached for it, then went off to feed for herself. 

 After a rest on a near by tree she went back to the nest. Through the week 

 the male seemed to do most of the feeding, altho I was in school and 

 could do little continuous observing. May 31st, eleven days later, one 

 fledgling left the nest in the morning and one in the afternoon. We ob- 

 served the feeding for several hours in the forenoon. The fledgling out- 

 side the nest was fed by both parents. The female then stayed near the 

 nest for some time, while the male did the feeding alone. At one time 

 she coaxed the fledgling to a new perch. Neither bird seemed to be afraid 

 although we sat in plain sight about six feet from the nest. The little 

 bird stretched himself, yawned, and preened his feathers by turns. He 

 slept between feeds but weakly chirped in answer to his father's call when- 

 ever he came near. The female always entered the shrub without chirping. 



The babies' beaks were dark brown and very large in proportion to 

 the bird's heads. In the afternoon, I was lying in a roll of wire about 

 six feet away when I saw the male with his claws pick up the fledgling by 

 the skin of his neck and carry it a few feet to a near by limb. The young 

 bird fluttered, finally landing on my wire cage. Both birds were much 

 excited and I was frightened for fear something would happen to the 



