300. 
894 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES. 
early age, bill dark. Eastern U. 8., southerly, seldom N. to the Connecticut Valley; along the 
Mexican border shading into C. v. igneus. A bird of striking appearance and brilliant vocal 
powers, resident and abundant from the Middle States southward ; inhabits thickets, tangle and 
undergrowth of all kinds, whence issue its rich rolling whistling notes while the performer, 
brightly clad as he is, often eludes observation by his shyness, vigilance, and activity. The 
nest, built loosely of bark-strips, twigs, leaves, and grasses, is placed in a bush, vine, or low 
Aine 
Hl 
Fig. 255.— Cardinal Grosbeak, upper; Rose-breasted Grosbeak, lower; reduced. (From Brehm.) 
thick tree ; the eggs are 1.00-1.10 long, 0.70-0.80 in breadth, profusely marked with browns, 
‘from reddish to dark chocolate, with neutral tint in the shell, usually in fine dotting or mar- 
bling pattern. Two or three broods are reared in the South. Like the rose-breasted grosbeak, 
the cardinal is a favorite cage-bird. 
C. v.igmeus. (Lat. igneus, fiery.) Frery-rep CARDINAL. Like the last; not redder, but if 
anything lighter red; black mask narrowed on forehead, or so interrupted there that the red 
reaches to the bill; crest inclining to light red, more like that of belly than of back. Bill 
