BIRDS OF NEW YORK 3^5 



Cardinalis cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus) 

 Cardinal 



Plate 8s 



Loxia cardinalis Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. lo. 1758. 1:172 

 Pitylus cardinalis DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 171, fig. 143 

 Cardinalis cardinalis cardinalis A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. 

 p. 282. No. S93 



cardinalis, of the color worn by a cardinal, red 



Description. Abotit the size of a Robin; bill very heavy; head con- 

 spicuously crested; tail long, slightly rounded; colors bright rosy red especially 

 across the sides of the head and under part; the upper parts more or less 

 washed with grayish; the inner webs of the wing feathers fuscous; throat 

 and a narrow space all around the base of the bill black; bill reddish. 

 Female: Crest, wings and tail dull reddish; upper parts brownish; under 

 parts buffy ocherous, lighter on the belly; breast slightly tinged with red; 

 the space around the base of the bill grayish black. 



Length 8.25 inches; extent 11-12; wing 3.75; tail 4; bill .66; tarsus .95. 



Distribution. The Cardinal inhabits eastern United States from 

 Iowa and southern New York to the gulf coast and is nonmigratory in 

 habit. In this State it is commonest in the extreme southeastern counties 

 west of the Hudson river, but not in Westchester county on the other 

 side of the Hudson. It is a local resident also on Staten Island, and rare 

 on the western end of Long Island, only one or two instances of its breeding 

 there having come to my attention, one at Prospect Park, June 8, 1884 

 (see Adney, Auk, 1:390), and another instance reported from Bellport by 

 W. A. Babson. In Rockland county it is undoubtedly commoner than 

 in any other portion of the State. Its occurrence in the coastal district 

 has been reported not only from the localities mentioned, but from River- 

 dale, Coney Island, Flatbush, Flushing, Seaford, Roslyn and Brooklyn. 

 In the interior of the State it has been recorded from Brockport, Keuka 

 lake, Syracuse, Buffalo, Brant, Fredonia, Jamestown and Cohoes. There 

 is a bare possibility that some of these birds had escaped from cages, 

 but in the majority of instances the condition of the specimens indicated 

 that they had not been captive, at least for a long time, and there is no 



