CARDINAL. 189 



others at all times of the year in these hedges, and during the breeding season dozens 

 of nests can be found in a hedge not exceeding a mile in length. In the southern AUe- 

 ghanies the Cardinal prefers the edges of brooks, rocky slopes, and dense ravines', where 

 azaleas, rhododendrons, mountain laurels {Kalmia latifolia), sweet-scented shrubs 

 (fialycanthus) , and many others form dense and extensive thickets. In south-western 

 Missouri the Cardinal's haunts are the dense thickets fringing the woods, the shrubbery 

 in the ravines, the hazel copses, snowberry, wild rose, and gooseberry bushes, and 

 especially thickets Overrun with grape-vines and other climbers in spots where the woods 

 have been cut down. In their northern habitat the scarcity of food frequently drives 

 them to the farni yards, especially to corn cribs, hay and straw stacks, and manure 

 heaps. They came in numbers of five to ten to my feeding place, which I had arranged 

 for various birds in the woods bordering* my house, in Missouri. At first they were 

 exceedingly wild and suspicious, but they soon lost much of their usual shyness. They 

 fed on sun-flower seeds, hemp, some oats, but did not eat corn, a fact proving that 

 they only eat corn vsrhen they can find nothing else. During warm days, even in 

 February, they sang beautifully in the underwood near my house. According to the 

 observations of Mr. Otto Widmann, they are not uncommon near St. Louis, where they 

 show^ a predilection for the "sink-holes," so peculiar to that locality. These places are 

 usually densely overgrown with various shrubs and vines. In northern Florida I found 

 this brilliant bird most numerous along the Chattahoochee and Suwanee Rivers, in the 

 vicinity of Tallahassee and Monticello, and on the St. John's River. Further south, on 

 the peninsula, they were not quite as abundant. 



Wherever the Cardinal Grosbeak occurs it is a resident species. Only in the 

 most northern portions of its range the inclemency of the weather and consequent 

 scarcity of food drives it to temporary short wanderings in order to procure food. The 

 northern Cardinals are far more shy than those of the Southern States, and their 

 plumage is of a somewhat deeper red. The southerti birds are a trifle smallef, of a 

 more brilliant red, and quicker in motions. During the late fall they congregate and 

 even associate with other Sparrows. They are not quarrelsome and generally live peace- 

 fully among themselves and with other birds. During the latter part of February I 

 witnessed in the South violent contests among the nlales and happy calls of victory 

 after one or the other of the combatants was driven away. The female always chooses 

 the victorious male for her partner, the companies dissolve, and the pair selects its 

 breeding range which is mostly small, but well guarded against intrusion by birds of 

 the same species by the pugnacious male. Many of the males, especially younger birds, 

 are compelled to remain bachelors. It is a well-known fact, that among the smaller 

 birds, as a rule, there are more males than females. The breeding range is always 

 chosen in a thicket, and the more secluded and hidden this is, the more the birds feel at 

 home'. Any thicket, if only dense enough, suflices for a pair. In Texas I found eight 

 to ten pairs breeding on a space not exceeding an acre in area. As I have remarked 

 in the foregoing, the Cherokee rose hedges all over the South are their favorite nesting 

 sites, and I have found as ,many as ten nests in a mile's walk. In these hedges the 

 birds as well aS the nests are well concealed and very difficult to find. While w^alk- 

 ing along the hedge every few steps a Cardinal was flushed. Indeed, these hedges 







