igO CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 



found to fade in colour, becoming of a pale whitish red. I£ 

 well taken care of, however, they will live to a considerable 

 age. There is at present in Mr Peale's museum the stuffed 

 skin of one of these birds, which is there said to have lived in 

 a cage upwards of twenty-one years. 



The opinion which so generally prevails in England, that 

 the music of the groves and woods of America is far inferior 

 to that of Europe, I, who have a thousand times listened to 

 both, cannot admit to be correct. We cannot with fairness 

 draw a comparison between the depth of the forest in America 

 and the cultivated fields' of England ; because it is a well- 

 known fncf, that singing birds seldom frequent the former in 

 any country. But let the latter places be compared with the 

 like situations in the United States, and the superiority of 

 song, I am fully persuaded, would justly belong to the western 

 continent. The few of our song birds that have visited Europe 

 extort admiration from the best judges. "The notes of the 

 cardinal grosbeak," says Latham, " are almost equal to those 

 of the nightingale." Yet these notes, clear and excellent as 

 they are, are far inferior to those of the wood thrush, and even 

 to those of the brown thrush, or thrasher. Our inimitable 

 mocking bird is also acknowledged by themselves to be fully 

 equal to the song of the nightingale, " in its whole compass." 

 Yet these are not one-tenth of the number of our singing birds. 

 Could these people be transported to the borders of our woods 

 and settlements in the month of May, about half an hour 

 before sunrise, such a ravishing concert would greet their ear 

 as they have no conception of. 



The males of the cardinal grosbeak, when confined together 

 in a cage, fight violently. On placing a looking-glass before 

 the cage, the gesticulations of the tenant are truly laughable ; 

 yet with this he soon becomes so well acquainted, that, in a 

 short time, he takes no notice whatever of it ; a pretty good 

 proof that he has discovered the true cause of the appearance 

 to proceed from himself. They are hardy birds, easily kept, 

 sing six or eight months in the year, and are most lively in 



