NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 329 



hee is abundant in all suitable localities of Arizona and New Mexico. 

 One of the most abundant birds throughout the valleys of the Gila and 

 Colorado Rivers. Its favorite resorts are the dense chapparal thickets 

 along streams. Said to be a very shy species keeping close within 

 its retreats upon the approach of an intruder. The nest is rather 

 loose and bulky, usually built in bushes near the ground and again in 

 trees. Mr. Stephens found one in a bunch of mistletoe at a height of 

 at least thirty feet. The nest is made of strips of bark, twigs and 

 leaves, with finer lining of the same materials. The eggs are three or 

 four in number and look exactly like those of the California Towhee 

 — pale greenish-blue or bluish-white, speckled, spotted and scratched 

 about the larger end, sometimes sparsely over the whole surface with 

 dark brown. Average size i.oox .74. A set of three eggs in my cabi- 

 net taken by Dr. Chas. Carter, U. S. A., in Pinal county, Arizona, on 

 April 21, 1885, exhibits the following sizes: i.oix.75, 1.02 x. 75, i.oox 



.74. 



593. Cardinalis cardinalis (Linn.) [242.] 



Cardinal. 



Hab. Eastern United States; west to Kansas, Nebraska; south to Texas and Florida; north to the 

 Middle States; rare in New York, casual in Connecticut, accidental in Massachusetts; represented by varie- 

 ties in the Southwest. 



Commonly called Redbird or Cardinal Grosbeak, and by some 

 Virginia Nightingale or Virginia Cardinal. It is not migratory 

 but resident nearly wherever found, and is distributed throughout the 

 eastern part of United States from the latitude of Ohio southward. 

 The nest of this species is placed in a variety of situations, usually 

 from three to ten feet above the ground in a dense thicket, which is its 

 favorite nesting site. I have found the nest placed on the top rail of 

 a fence in the midst of a clump of brambles. The late Dr. Wheaton 

 mentions finding it "on the top of vine-covered stumps, in wild-goose- 

 berry bushes overhanging water, and in brush-heaps," and says: "I 

 have found the nest ready for the reception of eggs as early as April 

 17." Mr. Davis states that in Cook county, Texas, the Redbird begins 

 nesting before the trees put forth their leaves. The nest is a loose, frail 

 structure, made of slender twigs, strips of grape-vine bark, stems, grass, 

 and a few leaves, lined with fine rootlets and grasses, sometimes with 

 horse hair. 



There is a great diversity in the coloration and general appearance 

 in a large series of the eggs of this species. The ground-color in the 

 various specimens runs from white through bluish or greenish-white 

 to that of a brownish tint. The markings are reddish -brown, laven- 

 der and gray of various shades and are pretty generally scattered over 

 the entire surface ; in other specimens they tend to cluster more thick- 



