OF VIRGINIA 241 
GENUS CARDINALIS. 
[593]. Cardinalis cardinalis cardinalis (Ianneus). 
Cardinal. 
[ Redbird]. 
Ranex.—Carolinian and Austroriparian zones east of 
the Great Plains from southeastern South Dakota, 
southern Towa, northern Indiana, northern Ohio, southern 
Ontario (locally), southeastern and southwestern Penn- 
sylvania, and southern Hudson Valley south to the Gulf 
States (eastern Texas to northern Florida); casual in 
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Brunswick, Massa- 
chusetts, and Connecticut; resident in Bermuda. 
This is the most highly colored plumaged bird that 
remains throughout the winter with us, and with the first 
warm days of early spring he commences to sing, keeping 
it up until well into the middle of July, or about the time 
a second brood is leaving the nest. As he is an expert 
sengster, as well as a fine looker, large numbers were 
taken for cage birds throughout the South until lately, 
when good laws have put an end to this traffic. The 
beautiful scarlet coat and crest make them very con- 
spicuous, and unfortunately many fall prey to the so- 
called sportsmcn’s gun if game is scarce. The nest is 
rather a loosely made structure of grasses, weed stems, 
strips of bark, dry leaves and fine rootlets, lined with fine 
grasses. Three to four eggs is a full set, generally three, 
grayish-white, spotted, specked and blotched with reddish- 
brown or lavender. A series shows a great variation in 
color and markings. Size, .99x.69. Nests are placed in 
seccn(-growth bushes, vines, small trees, such as pines, 
