THE CARDINAL 



THOMAS NUTTALL 



THIS splendid and not uncommon songster is found chiefly 

 in the warmer and more temperate parts of the United 

 States from New York to Florida, and a few stragglers even 

 proceed as far to the north as Salem, in Massachusetts. They 

 also inhabit the Mexican provinces, and are met with south as 

 far as Carthagena; adventurously crossing the intervening 

 ocean they are likewise numerous in the little temperate Ber- 

 muda Islands, but do not apparently exist in any of the West 

 Indies. As might be supposed from the range already stated, 

 the Redbird is not uncommon throughout Louisiana, Missouri 

 and Arkansas. 



Most of those which pass the summer in the cooler and 

 middle States retire to the south at the commencement of 

 winter, though a few linger in the sheltered swamps of Penn- 

 sylvania and near the shores of the Delaware almost through 

 the winter. They also, at this season, probably assemble toward 

 the sea-coast from the west in some of the southern States, 

 where roving and skulking timid families are now seen flitting 

 silently through thickets and swampy woods eager alone to 

 glean a scanty subsistence, and defend themselves from prowl- 

 ing enemies. 



At all times, however, they appear to have a predilection 

 for watery groves and shaded running streams, abounding 

 with evergreens and fragrant magnolias, in which they are so 

 frequent as to be almost concomitant with the scene. But 



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