CARDINAL. 193 



of expiring with delight at the delicious sounds of his own voice. Again and again are 

 those melodies repeated, the bird resting only at intervals to breathe. They may be 

 heard from long before the sun gilds the eastern horizon, to the period when the blazing 

 orb pours down its noonday floods of heat and light, "driving the birds to the coverts 

 to seek repose for a while. Nature again invigorated, the musician recommences his 

 song, when, as if he had never strained his throat before, he makes the whole neighbor- 

 hood resound, nor ceases until the shades of evening close around him. Day after day 

 the song of the Redbird beguiles the weariness of his mate as she assiduously warms 

 her eggs ; and at times she also assists with the modesty of her gentler sex. Few indi- 

 viduals of our own race refuse the homage of admiration to the sweet songster. How 

 pleasing is it, when, by a clouded sky, the woods are rendered so dark, that were it 

 not for an occasional glimpse of clearer light falling between the trees, you might 

 imagine night at hand, while you are yet far distant from your home — how pleasing 

 to have your ear suddenly saluted by the well-known notes of this favorite bird, assur- 

 ing you of peace around, and of the full hour that still remains for you to pursue your 

 w^alk in security! How often have I enjoyed this pleasure, and how often, in due 

 humbleness of hope, do I trust that I may enjoy it again!" 



These words of our great Audubon so fully agree with my own opinion and ob- 

 servations that I have little to add. The song of this bird heard in the realms of Nature 

 is quite different from that of caged birds. The latter do not exhibit the variety and 

 sw^eetness which is so prevailing in the performance of birds in the freedom of Nature. 

 Moreover, caged birds often become monotonous by repeating some passages of their song 

 too often, w^hich is not noticed or really overlooked by man in the song of wild birds. Of 

 course, there are excellent and poor singers among Cardinals as among other birds. 

 Being very diligent singers, their lay may be heard throughout the day and for six or 

 eight months in the year. According to Nuttall the Redbird's song is more lively in 

 wet weather; the sadness of Nature, softening and soothing the tender vocalist into a 

 lively, pathetic, and harmonious reverie. "So highly were these birds esteemed for their 

 melody," continues Nuttall, "that according to Gemelli Careri, the Spaniards of Havana, 

 in a time of public distress and scarcity, bought so many of these birds, with which a 

 vessel was partly freighted, from Florida, that the sum expended, at ten dollars apiece, 

 amounted to no less than 18,000 dollars ! Indeed Latham admits that the notes of our 

 Cardinal 'are almost equal to those of the Nightingale,' the sweetest feathered minstrel 

 of Europe. The style of their performance is, however, wholly different. The bold 

 martial strains of the Redbird, though relieved by tender and exquisite touches, possess 

 not the enchanting pathos, the elevated and varied expression of th? far-famed Philomel, 

 nor yet those contrasted tones, which, in the solemn stillness of the growing night, fall 

 at times into a soothing whisper, or slowly rise and quicken into a loud and cheering 

 warble. A strain of almost sentimental tenderness and sadness pervades by turns the 

 song of the Nightingale; it flows like a torrent, or dies away like an echo; his varied 

 ecstacies seem poured to the pale moon-beams, and like the desponding lover, seeking 

 to hide his grief in solitude, his sapphic lays, wasted, as it were, in the desert air, now 

 meet with no response but the sighing zephyr or the ever murmuring brook. The notes 



of our Cardinal are as full of hilarity as of tender expression ; his whistling call is 



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