110 
CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
agreeable song*, wliicli it continues through the whole year, 
and often during the night, on account of which, and its 
great tameness, it is often caught and kept in confinement : j 
seldom does anything more than the skin of the beautiful ' 
red-plumed songster find its way here ; should any of our 
readers be fortunate enough to obtain a live specim.en, they 
must give it the same kind of food as that recommended for ^ ' 
the crossbills. ' 
THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 
This is a large and handsome species, measuring about 
eight inches in length, and having- a dress of beautiful 
bright red, which is finely relieved by a small portion of 
glossy black about the head and throat. It is a North 
American bird, and is described by Wilson as being in song 
from March to September, beginning at the first appear- 
ance of dawn, and repeating a favourite stanza, or passage, 
twenty or thirty times successivel}'', sometimes with little 
intermission, for a whole morning together, till, like a g^ood 
story too often repeated, it becomes tiresome and insipid. 
But,'^ adds the naturalist, the sprightly figure and gaudy 
plumage of the red bird, his vivacity, strength of voice, and 
actual variety of note, and the little expense at which he is 
kept, will always make him a favourite." And a favourite 
the Virginian nightingale, as this bird is commonly called, on 
account of the richness and variety of his song, well deserves 
to be; all through the year, except during the moulting 
season, it discourses most exquisite melody, sometimes m 
loud as to make the ears tingle again. The hen of this 
species, which is of a reddish brown colour, is said by Wil- 
son, often to sing nearly as well as the male, and when 
kept in the same cage is sometimes destroyed by the cock, 
owing, it may be, to jealousy on this score. The bird, when ^ f 
wild, feeds chiefly on maize and buckwheat ; in captivity it I 
will live many years upon millet, canaiy, rape, and hemp 
seed. We cannot learn that the bird has been induced to 
breed in captivity, although Bechstein says, that attempts 
to this end have been made in detached aviaries. 
THE WAXBILL 
Is a pretty littlo bird; scarcely so large as a redbreast ; it i 
