CARDINAL. 197 



Few other birds are such universal cage pets as the Cardinal Grosbeaks. They 

 are trapped by the thousands each winter and brought to northern markets. Thousands 

 are shipped annually to Europe, where they are everywhere regarded as cage birds of 

 the highest rank. In Germany it has been raised successfully in the aviaries, and escaped 

 cage birds have even bred in the forests. If carefully and kindly treated, the Cardinal will 

 live for many years in confinement. A roomy cage and Tariety in food is very essential 

 to keep the bird in good health. A mixture of Canary and sunflower seed, natural rice, 

 millet, Kaffir corn, some oats, mealworms, grasshoppers, pieces of meat, and also 

 Mockingbird-food mixed with crated carrots and all kinds of berries ought to be the 

 Cardinal's food in confinement. 



In the South the Negroes commit great havoc among our beautiful native birds. 

 Mrs. OHve Thome Miller, in her interesting book, "In Nesting Time," has told us how 

 these idlers proceed in catching and disturbing the birds, and I can fully corroborate 

 what sbe writes. In Texas as well as in Louisiana and Florida I have seen Negro boys 

 with strings of dead Cardinals and other birds wandering through the streets of the 

 towns, offering their booty for sale. It is a disheartening sight to every lover of Nature 

 and to every noble minded man, to see how war is waged against the beauties of 

 Nature. "No wonder," says OHve Thorne Miller, "the Negroejs know all about the 

 birds, and lay violent hands on eggs, nests, or nestlings as they choose, creeping around 

 as they do vvithout a sound. It is only surprising that a bird is left, so persistently do 

 they rob the nests." But there are other enemies. The Blue Jays, oppossums, raccoons, 

 and especially tree climbing snakes, destroy many broods. 



This glory of our bird-fauna deserves everywhere careful protection and fostering. 

 Stringent laws should be passed by the legislatures of the Southern States for the pro- 

 tection of birds, and these laws should be strictly enforced. We cannot have too many 

 of these glorious birds in our woodlands and gardens. 



NAMES: Cardinal, Cafdinal Grosbeak, Cardinal Redbird, Cardinal-bird, Redbird, Virginia Nightingale, 

 Virginia Redbird, Crested Redbird, Top-knot Redbird. — Cardinal, Roter Cardinal (German). 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Loxia cardinalis Linn. (1758), Wils. Fringilla cardinalis Bonap. (1828), Nutt. 

 Pitylus cardinalis Aud. (1839). Cardinalis virginianas Bonap. (1838), Brd. CARDINALIS CAR- 

 DINALIS LiCHT. (1854). 



DESCRIPTION: "Adult male: Uniform vermillion-red, pure beneath, darker and more brownish above. 

 Lores, anterior portion of malar region, chin, and throat, black — this color meeting across forehead 

 at base of culmen. Bill, bright vermillion-red ; iris, brown ; feet, horn-color. Adult female: Bill, eyes, 

 and feet as in the male. Red of head and body replaced by olive-gray above, and grayish-buff or pale 

 fulvous below; the crest, sometimes also the breast, tinged with red. Black of throat, etc., replaced 

 by grayish. Young: Bill, dusky. Plumage much as in the adult female, but browner." (Ridgway.) 

 Length, 8.25 to 9.25 inches; wing, 3.90; tail, 4.35 inches. 



A variety, the Arizona Cardinal, C. cardinalis superbus Ridgw., inhabits southern Arizona and western 

 Mexico, south to Mazatlan. The colors are paler than in the type, otherwise the resemblance is very striking. 



The Saint Lucas Cardinal, C cardinalis igneaa Stejn., is found in Lower California. East and central 

 Mexico, north to Mirador, is inhabited by the Mexican Cardinal, C. cardinalis coccineus Ridgw.; Yucatan 

 by the Yucatan Cardinal, C. cardinalis yucatanicus Ridgw. Another variety, the Cozumel Cardinal, 

 C. cardinalis saturatus Ridgw., is found on the Island of Cozumel, Yucatan. 



Of the closely allied species I shall mention the Colima Cardinal, C. carneus Less., a bird of south- 

 western Mexico (Colima), and the Venezuelan Cardinal, C.phceniceus Gould, an inhabitant of the northern 

 coast of South America and of Trinidad. 



