SOME MINOR SONG-BIRDS. 159 



studied than his sweet and powerful vocalisa- 

 tion. His notes are few, but the compass and 

 volume of his voice, and the vivid force of ex- 

 pression he commands, are without rival. 

 Not even the mocking-bird can equal him in 

 his one circle of execution. He sings with 

 true American energy, flinging out his notes 

 as if from a clarion. His attitudes are those 

 of unbounded self-confidence ; he appears to 

 claim the whole world as his own, as he stands 

 bolt upright on a bough, his crest erect, his 

 bold eyes flashing, and his voice leaping out 

 with the impulse of a diminutive steam-whistle. 

 He is a wary, shy, swift bird, but his color ex- 

 poses him to the watchful collector, who is 

 ever eager to take him. The cardinal's nest 

 is well-built, usually set in a tangled place of 

 a thicket. Its eggs are of a mottled reddish- 

 brown color. 



In the region of Tallulah Falls I met with 

 an old man whose chief business was snaring 

 red-birds (cardinals) for the sake of their skins, 

 which he sold to a New York firm for use in 

 millinery decorations. Most of his work was 

 done in the mating season, when with a trained 

 decoy-bird and a cage furnished with side- 

 springes, he took great numbers. The method 

 was to hang the cage, of open wire-work, with 

 a live male bird in it, on a bough in the midst 

 of a thicket. The springes at the sides of the 

 cage were so arranged that no sooner did a 

 visiting bird alight thereon than he was caught. 

 The captive left alone calls loudly and is an- 

 swered by a female who comes near. This 

 excites the jealousy of her lord, who dashes at 

 the cage and dies. The old man had four of 

 these murderous contrivances, and was reaping 



