190 CARDINAL. 



appeared fairly to swarm with these exquisite songsters. Mr. Bradford Torrey, an 

 excellent observer and a good writer, made the same observation while traveling in 

 Florida. After speaking of the beauty of the Cherokee rose, Mr. Torrey writes: 

 "I stopped, of course, to pluck a blossom. At that moment a female Redbird flew out 

 of the bush. Her mate was beside her instantly, and a nameless something in their 

 manner told me they were trying to keep a secret. The nest, built mainly of pine- 

 needles and other leaves, w^as in the middle of the bush, a foot or two from the grass, 

 and contained two bluish or greenish eggs thickly spattered with dark brown. I meant 

 to look into it again (the owners seemed to have no objection), but somehow missed 

 it every time I passed. From that point, as far as I went, the road was lined with 

 Cherokee roses, — not continuously but with short intermissions; and from the number 

 6f Redbirds seen, almost invariably in pairs, I feel safe in saying that the nest I had 

 found was probably one of fifteen or twenty scattered along the way-side. How glorious 

 the birds sang ! It was their day for singing. I was ready to christen the road anew, — 

 Redbird Road," 



Cardinal Grosbeaks rarely alight high in the trees, keeping always in the low 

 shrubbery, in which they also breed. The nest is usually not more than two to three 

 feet from the ground, but I occasionally found one as high as six, eight or ten feet up 

 in low branches of trees densely festooned with Spanish moss, or in the top of a small 

 tree overgrown with vines. Though the vicinity of water is preferred, the nests are 

 found in quite various places, but always in localities where thickets alternate with 

 trees and open spaces. My first nest was found in Lee County, Texas, in a dense r«d 

 cedar near a dwelling. Early in March I saw the female carry nesting material into 

 the interior of the cedar. In four days the domicile, which could not be seen from the 

 outside, was ready. Then the birds disappeared for several days. Six days after the 

 nest was finished I found the first egg ; in three days more the complement of three was 

 full and in thirteen days the young were hatched. This nest was constructed entirely of 

 fine rootlets and grasses ; then a layer of old leaves followed and the interior was lined 

 with finer grasses. Near Houston the Cardinals were more abundantly met with than 

 the Mockingbird. A half an hour's walk from my home in the western part of the city 

 brought me to a prairie where groups of trees and dense masses of thickets were com- 

 mon. These prairie thickets consisted of small elms, red bud trees, viburnums, dogwood, 

 etc., and were covered and mingled with the grotesque forms of the supple Jack {Ber- 

 chemia volubilis), thorny sniilax, Carolina jasmine, coral honey-suckle, blackberry bushes, 

 grape-vine, trumpet creeper, cross-vine, poison jvy, and Cherokee roses. It was almost 

 impossible to penetrate these masses of thorny bushes and creepers. In order to reach 

 the more open interior I had to crawl on hands and feet. With torn clothes, scratched 

 and bleeding hands I almost always returned from such an excursion. Cardinals nested 

 in great numbers in these, thickets, and also Mockingbirds, Chats, and Yellow-billed 

 Cuckoos. On the edge White-eyed Vireos had usually their exquisite moss-covered nests 

 suspended from a horizontal branch. Frequently I found the Cardinal's nest on some 

 low horizontal branch densely covered with Spanish moss. In such cases the domicile 

 was imbedded in the moss, which formed the outside walls, the interior being lined with 

 pine-needles or grasses, They were only discovered by accident, like tho§e in the 



