40 Bird Life Stories 



every rival of the feathered race, and rung almost in echoes 

 through the blossoming grove in which he had chosen his 

 retreat. In the southern States where the Cardinals every- 

 where breed, they become familiarly attached to gardens, which, 

 as well as cornfields, afford them a ready means of subsistence; 

 they are also fond of the seeds of most of the orchard fruits, 

 and are said occasionally to prey upon bees. 



The lay of the Cardinal is a loud, mellow and pleasingly 

 varied whistle, delivered with ease and energy for a consider- 

 able time together. To give it full effect he chooses the sum- 

 mit of some lofty branch and elevating his melodious voice in 

 powerful as well as soothing and touching tones, he listens, 

 delighted, as it were, with the powers of his own music, at 

 intervals answered and encouraged by the tender responses of 

 his mate. It is thus the gilded hours of his existence pass 

 away in primeval delight until care and necessity break in 

 upon his contemplative reveries, and urge him again to pursue 

 the sober walks of active life. 



The song of the Redbird, like that of many others, often 

 consists in part of favorite borrowed and slightly altered 

 phrases. It would be a difficult and fruitless task to enu- 

 merate all the native notes delivered by this interesting 

 songster. All the tones of the Cardinal are whistled much in 

 the manner of the human voice. 



Latham admits that the notes of our Cardinal "are almost 

 equal to those of the Nightingale, the sweetest feathered 

 minstrel of Europe." The style of their performance is, how- 

 ever, wholly different. The bold, martial strains of the Red- 

 bird, though relieved by tender and exquisite touches, possess 

 not the enchanting pathos, the elevated and varied expression 

 of the far-famed Philomel, nor yet those contrasted tones, 

 which, in the solemn stillness of the growing night, fall at 



