198 



ORDERS OF BIRDS— PERCHERS AND SINGERS 



interlopers are killed off, the better for all other 

 birds. They can be made to serve well as sub- 

 jects for dissection in the school-room, and for 

 amateur taxidermists ; and they make excellent 

 food for captive hawks, owls, small carnivores, 

 and live snakes of several species. 



The introduction of this bird may well serve 

 as a solemn warning against any further med- 

 dlings with Nature on that line. In the first 

 place, there never existed the slightest reason 



CARDINAL. 



or need for this importation. Without serious 

 consideration, or consultation with the persons 

 most competent to advise, this bird was im- 

 ported and planted in twelve widely separated 

 localities in the United States. To-day it is a 

 feathered nuisance that spreads over one-half 

 the United States, and excepting locally cannot 

 be abated. Nevertheless, it is within the power 

 of western towns and cities wherein it has not yet 

 gained a foothold to follow the example of Mr. 

 Bond in Cheyenne, and destroy every colony 

 that enters before it has time to breed. 



The Cardinal, or Cardinal Grosbeak, 1 also 

 called the Cardinal Redbird, is the pride of 

 the South. From New Orleans to New York 

 it is persistently trapped and "limed," — not to 

 "keep " as a cage-bird, but to sell as such. Poor, 

 unhappy Cardinal! How much better its fate 

 1 Car-di-nal'is car-di-nal'is. Length, S.50 inches. 



had it been created black instead of bright cardi- 

 nal red, with no jaunty top-knot, and no fatal 

 gift of song! 



In a cage 6 by 9 feet, or even 4 by 4, a bird like 

 this flies to and fro, and in company with a dozen 

 other small birds finds life far from dull. But if 

 you put a wild song-bird in a cage barely large 

 enough for a canary, the bird is wretched, it dies 

 soon, and the keeping of it is a sin against Nat- 

 ure. Excepting canaries and a very few other 

 species, if you cannot keep birds (and mam- 

 mals, also) in big cages, do not keep them at all ! 

 The way thousands of song-birds are caught in 

 some portions of the South, to sell as cage-birds, 

 is a sin and a shame. At this date, New Orleans 

 in particular has before her an imperative duty in 

 breaking up this business. Children everywhere 

 should be taught that it is almost impossible 

 for any one save an expert bird-man to take 

 young song-birds, and rear them successfully. 

 Young insectivorous birds require specially 

 compounded bird-food, and it must be given to 

 them every hour, with small forceps — a very tedi- 

 ous operation. 



In the kindness of their little hearts, children 

 often take young song-birds from the nest, cage 

 them, and try to feed them on what some little 

 folks like best — cake and cream! They might 

 as well give them poison ! For any one ignorant 

 of the precise methods necessary in rearing in- 

 sectivorous birds, to take such birds from their 

 parents is cruelty and destruction! 



The sight of a wild Cardinal always compels 

 attention. The bird is not only beautiful in color, 

 but it is aristocratic in form and manner. It 

 comes up from the South into New York state, 

 and the Ohio River region, and extends westward 

 to the edge of the plains region. 



The Rose-Breasted Grosbeak- is, in all re- 

 spects save one, a very beautiful bird. It has a, 

 big, clumsy-looking, conspicuously white beak, 

 which almost spoils the whole bird. But the 

 pink-sunset flush on the clear skj r of its breast, 

 its glossy-black head and tail, and black-and- 

 white wings, are so beautiful a combination the)'' 

 lead one to forgive the homely beak. The deli- 

 cate pink-rose tint on the breast renders the iden- 

 tification of this bird very easy, even at first 

 sight. 



I must confess that I remember nothing of 

 2 Zam-e-lo'di-a lu-do-vi-ci-an'a. Lensrth, S inches. 



