224 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



three or four repetitions, but beginning on a lower 

 note, rising higher, and prolonging and trilling 

 different notes so that the song is full of sound 

 variations. Numbers of different interpretations, 

 equally apt, may be put upon the notes of the 

 cardinal. Once a sweet faced old lady asked me 

 to name the bird, which came through her orchard 

 singing : ' ' Pretty, pretty, pretty ! ' ' She imitated the 

 cardinal so perfectly that I knew instantly which 

 bird she meant. In the course of my childliood 

 around nests and in my field experiences with a 

 camera, I have watched the love affairs of many 

 birds, but I know of no bird that in the ecstasy 

 of the mating fever becomes so obsessed as the 

 cardinal. 



He is not the only musician in the family; his 

 mate does very well on a low whistled repetition 

 of most of his notes. In truth the hens of almost 

 every species with which I am intimately acquaint- 

 ed sing a few soft, low songs during courtship, 

 sometimes after family cares are over in the nest. 



The best thing ever said about a cardinal in my ex- 

 perience was a remark made by Ross Lower, a small 

 boy of Wabash, Indiana. He was standing on the 

 sidewalk in utter absorption, listening to a thrilling 

 courting song of a cardinal in a tree close the fence. 

 A woman passing noticed his interest and pausing 

 asked: "What do you think he is saying?" to 

 which he promptly replied: "I think he says: 

 'Keep the home fires burning.'" I agree with the 



