846 BIRDS 



small thicket. Despite the fact that they are able to with- 

 stand cold weather, very few of them are found as far north 

 as the Great Lakes region. 



Their powerful bills enable them to crack the seeds and 

 dissect fruits that other birds are unable to examine. They 

 are birds of great economic as well as of poetic value. A 

 small quantity of grain scattered about the dooryard in win- 

 ter will readily attract these handsome birds and cause them 

 to become permanent residents of a given locality of their 

 range. The males have during breeding time a dozen dis- 

 tinct notes, and they may be heard whistling twelve months 

 in the year. As one writer says, "The notes of the car- 

 dinals are clear and tender — far sweeter than the mellowest 

 notes of fife or clarionet." Red-birds are easily captured 

 and make admirable cage birds. Until our song-bird law 

 went into effect cardinals were handled extensively by vari- 

 ous song-bird dealers. 



The nests are built in shrubs, vines, and young trees 

 about residences in small towns and villages. The nests 

 are of twigs, bark, grass, and leaves, lined with finer sub- 

 stances of the same. Three or four bluish-white eggs, 

 heavily spotted with dark brown and lavender, are laid. 

 The nests are usually not to exceed ten feet above the 

 ground. The birds enjoy a thicket or dense growth of 

 shrubbery similar to that inhabited by our catbird or 

 brown thrasher. They raise two broods in a season, the 

 male caring for the first brood while the female attends to 

 nesting duties. They sometimes select for nesting sites 

 shrubbery about porticoes, seemingly to avoid the blue jays. 

 They are very restless when disturbed in their nesting. 



