186 CARDINAL. 



teristic feature of the landscape, and its loud and melodious song cannot fail to inspire 

 every lover of Nature with rapture and delight. 



Like the Catbird, the Chat, and the Thrasher the Cardinal Grosbeak is a tenant 

 of the shrubbery. It does not inhabit the trees like the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and it 

 likewise avoids localities where undergrowth is scarce. Its favorite haunts are open 

 woodlands intermingled with dense bushes, thickets overgrown w^ith climbing plants, 

 and the brooks and rivulets fringed by shrubbery. All over the South the dense Cherokee 

 rose hedges are its favorite haunts. Throughout the spring these localities resound with 

 .the many-voiced chorus of the Cardinal Grosbeak. Though loud, the song is enchant- 

 ingly beautiful, mellow, and varied. The proud and noble bearing, and the rich Scarlet 

 color of its plumage combine to make an exquisite picture on the back-ground of the 

 deep green foliage. In order to become thoroughly acquainted with the Cardinal in all 

 its splendor, we must ramble through its favorite home in the Gulf region. 



April is ready to give way to May. The splendid evergreen magnolia is in full 

 flower, its large white blossoms fill the air with delicious perfume. The violet-like 

 odor of the blooming wild grape-vines is almost overpowering. The cross-vine and 

 several species of evergreen smilax, the sweet-scented Carolina jasmine and other climb- 

 ing plants transform the thickets into impenetrable masses of green. Everywhere we 

 notice the orange-scarlet blossoms of the -trumpet creeper, hanging down from the 

 branches of the forest trees. The observer, not acquainted with the plant, sometimes 

 mistakes the bright-colored flower clusters for Summer Tanagers or Cardinals. Ever- 

 green trees and shrubs form a characteristic feature of these w^oodlands, and in some 

 places they are the prevailing part of the forest flora. Red-bays *, different holUes, ever- 

 green oaks, among them the famous live-oak, laurel cherries', sweet bays', anise bushes^, 

 loblolly bays, wax-myrtles, beautiful kalmias, sparkle-berry and andromeda shrubs, the 

 sweet-scented American olive^, and the most beautiful of all, the grand evergreen mag- 

 nolia, are everywhere common. Many oaks, sweet gum, and tulip trees, the button-wood 

 and other deciduous trees attain here gigantic proportions. Swamps and w^oodlands 

 are bordered by thickets densely overgrown with creeping plants. 



At this time of the year bird-life in the low shrubbery as well as in the woods 

 and gardens is exceedingly vivid. The great throng of sprightly and richly attired 

 Wood Warblers is now migrating northward, and in their company many other species 

 are found. The magnolias fairly swarm with Warblers. The shrubbery in the woods, 

 the orchard trees, the Cherokee rose hedges, and the tops of the tallest forest trees, all 

 have their visitors. A few weeks hence the same birds will arrive in their breeding 

 range in northern British America, where they will be engaged in the same way among the 

 less attractive, alders, birches, willoyrs, and spruces. Magnolia and Blackbumian War- 

 blers appear to be the most conspicuous as well as the most numerous sojourners in the 

 flowering magnolias. Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Bay- 

 breasted, and Yellow Warblers are scarcely less abundant. Vireps and Flycatchers are 

 also present. The Warblers are always busy and full of activity. They are fluttering, 

 flying, creeping, and hopping among the branches, always in search of insects. Oft they 

 stop for a moment and sing their sprightly notes. In a playful way they frequently 



1 Persea Caroliaensis, ' Prunua CaroUnensis. a Magnolia glaaca. * Illlclum Floridanum . o Osmanthus Americaaus. 



