BiBDs OF Indiana. 975 



again and again repeats its score. Finally it flirts its tail and flies 

 down to some brush pile, within which it disappears, and the call, 

 chewinh, comes from the hidden depths of the heap. Its song sounds 

 something like, "look-out, ter-r-r." The first syllable has a rising in- 

 flection; the second is slurred. Mr. E. E. Thompson interprets it as, 

 chuck-burr, pill-a-will-a-ivill-a. They begin singing some springs by 

 the middle of March, and while most cease in June, they may occasion- 

 ally be heard well into July. "Of seventeen specimens examined, five 

 had eaten small seeds; one raspberries; one, seven moths; three, nine 

 beetles; one, wheat; one, oats; one, a wasp; one, an ichiieumon; two, 

 three grasshoppers; two, two cockroaches; one, a walMngstiefe {Spec- 

 trum femoratum), and four of its eggs; and one, a larva" (King, Geol. 

 of Wis., I., p. 543). Other authorities agree that this species is de- 

 cidedly insectivorous and beneficial. 



137. Genus CAHDINALIS Bonapaete. 



''230. (593). Cardinalis cardinalis (Linn.). 



Cardinal. 

 Syfionyme, Cardinal Gri.i.-heak, Redbikd, Virginia Cardinal. 



Adult Male. — With a conspicuous crest; plumage, rich vermillion 

 or rosy-red, obscured with ashy on the back; throat and face, black; 

 bill, reddish; feet, brown. Adult Female. — Ashy-brown; paler below, 

 with evident traces of red on the crest, wings, tail and imder parts. 



Length, 7.50-9.25; wing, 3.55-4.00; tail, 3.90-4.60. 



Eange. — Eastern United States west to Texas and Kansas; north 

 to Iowa, Indiana and southern New York. Casually or rarely to Maine, 

 Ontario, southern Michigan and Minnesota. 



Nest, in bushes or vines, three to ten feet up; of twigs, bark, grass 

 and leaves, hned with grass. Hggs, 3-4; white, bluish or greenish- 

 white, spotted With rufous-brown, lavender and gray; .99 by .73. 



The Cardinal is the most noticeable feature of our avian fauna. 

 Whether we consider its beautiful, dress, its cheery song, its good 

 habits or its benfeficent deeds, there is nothing that cannot be admired. 

 It is resident throughout the State, being very common in the south- 

 ern part, north at least to Vermillion and Warren counties, Green- 

 •flstle, Indianapolis, Connersville and Brookville. Throughout the 

 northern half of the State in some localities they are quite rare. Ther« 

 some winters they disappear, others they remain. They are often 

 more numerous in spring and fall than it,\ other seasons. They are 

 very rare and of irregular occurrence in the northwest portion of th« 



