FRINGILLA CARDINALI3. 
?74 
musical ; many of them resemble the hi^h notes of * 
fife, and are nearly as loud. They are in soi)!? froi* 
March to September, heg-inning' at the first appearan«* 
of dawn, and repeating a favourite stanaa, or passage; 
twenty or thirty times successively; sometimes, n'itb 
little intermission, for a whole morning together, which; 
like a good story too often repeated, becomes at length 
tiresome and insipid. But the aj)rightly figure, an® 
gaudy plumage, of the red bird, his vivacity^ strength j 
of voice, and actual variety of note, and the lit|h’ 
expense with which he is kept, will silways make lu** 
a favourite. 
This s])ecies, like the mocking bird, is more numeroiF 
to the east of the great range of the Alleghany moo®' , 
tains, and inhabits from Neiv England to Cartbageo-'*’ I 
Michaux the younger, sou to the celebrated botanist | 
informed me, that he found this bird numerous in tb( 
Bermudas. In Penn.sylvania and the Northern Stated 
it is rather a .scarce species ; but throiurh the o’hoh’ 
lower parts of the Southern States, in the neighbourhood 
of settlements, 1 found them much more numerous* 
their clear and lively notes, in the months of Jan oaf/ 
ajid February, being, at that time, almo.st the only mos'J 
of the season. Along the roadsides and fences I foo®® 
them hovering in half dozens together, associated « >'® 
snow birds, and various kinds of si)arrows. In thf 
Northei-n States, they are migratory ; but in the lo" ®'^ 
parts of Penusylvani.a, they reside during the whoy 
year, frequenting the borders of creeks and rivulets, 
sheltered hollows covered with holly, laurel, and oth® , 
evergreens. They love also to ri^side in the vicinit.V.®!' 
fields of Indian corn, a grain that constitutes their ch'®. 
ami favourite fiKnl. The seeds of a|>ples, cherries, ®®. 
of many other sorts of fruit, are also eaten by the®* ’ 
and they are accn.sed of destroying bees. 
In the months of March and A|)ril, the males h*'^ 
many violent engagements for their favourite f’em®^®*^ 
Early in May, in Pennsylvania, they begin to prep®^ 
their nest, u hich is very often fixed in a holly, c®“ p 
or laurel bush. Ontn ardly, it is constructed of s'®* 
