CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 



39 



much more numerous; their clear and lively notes, in the months 

 of January and February, being, at that time, almost the only music 

 of the season. Along the road sides and fences I found them hover- 

 ing in half dozens together, associated with snow birds and various 

 kinds of sparrows. In the northern states they are migratory; but 

 in the lower parts of Pennsylvania they reside during the whole 

 year, frequenting the borders of creeks and rivulets, in sheltered 

 hollows covered with holly, laurel, and other evergreens. They 

 love also to reside in the vicinity of fields of Indian corn, a grain 

 that constitutes their chief and favorite food. The seeds of apples, 

 cherries, and of many other sorts of fruit, are also eaten by them ; 

 and they are accused of destroying bees. 



In the months of March and April the males have many vio- 

 lent engagements for their favorite females. Early in May in 

 Pennsylvania they begin to prepare their nest, which is very often 

 fixed in a holly, cedar or laurel bush. Outwardly it is constructed 

 of small twigs, tops of dry weeds, and slips of vine bark, and lined 

 with stalks of fine grass. The female lays four eggs thickly mark- 

 ed all over with touches of brownish olive, on a dull white ground, 

 as represented in the figure; and they usually raise two brood in 

 the season. These birds are rarely raised from the nest for sing- 

 ing, being so easily taken in trap cages, and soon domesticated. 

 By long confinement, and perhaps unnatural food, they are found 

 to fade in color, becoming of a pale whitish red. If well taken 

 care of, however, they will live to a considerable age. There is 

 at present in Mr. Peale^s museum, the stuflfed 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 



