CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 
275 
'■'vig's, tops of dry weeds, and slips of vine bark, and 
lined witli stalks of fine grass. The female lays four 
®P;gs, thickly marked all over with touches of hrowuish 
“live, on a dull white ground ; and they usually raise 
l^’O brood in the season. The,se birds are rarely raised 
from the nest for singing, being so easily taken in trap 
®ngcs, and soon domesticated. By long confinement, 
^ud perhaps unnatural food, they are found to fade in 
Colour, becoming of a pale whitish red. If well taken 
•^re of, however, l.hey will live to a considerable age. 
There is at present in Mr Peale’s museum, the stuffed 
*hin of one of these birds, which is tliere said to have 
lived in a cage upwards of twenty-one yeai-s. 
The opinion which SO generally prevails in England, 
ffiat the music of the groves and woods of America is 
frr inferior to that of Europe, I, who have a thousand 
frwes listened to both, cannot admit to he correct. We 
^nnot with fairness draw a comparison between^ the 
'lepth of the forest in America, and the cultivated fields 
«f England ; because it is a well known fact, that 
’"nging birds seldom frequent the former in any country, 
frut let the latter places he compared with the like 
'htiiations in the United States, and the superiority of 
*ong, I am fully persuaded, would justly belong to the 
postern continent. The few of our song birds that 
?*ive visited Europe extort admiration from the best 
Judges. “ The notes of the cardinal grosbeak,” says 
fratham, “ are almost equal to those of the nightingale.” 
these notes, clear and e-xcellcnt as they are, are 
frv inferior to those of the wood thrush ; and even to 
ff'Ose of the brown thrush, or thrasher, Onr inimitable 
{hocking bird is also acknou ledged, by themselves, to 
“u fully’ equal to the song of the nightingale “ in its 
hdiole compass.” Yet these are not one-tenth of the 
hUmber of onr singing birds. Could these people be 
fraiisported to the borders of our woods and settlements, 
•h the month of May, about half an hour before sunrise, 
?Uch a ravishing concert would greet their ear as they 
have no conception of. 
The males of the cardinal grosbeak, when confined 
