CARDINAL. 
363 
the cooler and Middle States retire to the South at the com- 
mencement of winter ; though a few linger in the sheltered 
swamps of Pennsylvania and near the shores of the Delaware 
almost through the winter. They also, at this season, probably 
assemble towards the sea-coast from the west, in most of the 
Southern States, where roving and skulking timid families are 
now seen flitting silently through thickets and swampy woods, 
eager alone to glean a scanty subsistence, and defend them- 
selves from prowling enemies. At all times, however, they 
appear to have a predilection for watery groves and shaded 
running streams, abounding with evergreens and fragrant mag- 
nolias, in which they are so frequent as to be almost concomi- 
tant with the scene. But though they usually live only in 
families or pairs, and at all times disperse into these selective 
groups, yet in severe weather, at sunset, in South Carolina, I 
observed a flock passing to a roost in a neighboring swamp 
and bushy lagoon, which continued, in lengthened file, to fly 
over my head at a considerable height for more than twenty 
minutes together. The beautiful procession, illumined by the 
last rays of the setting sun, was incomparably splendid as the 
shifting shadowy light at quick intervals flashed upon their 
brilliant livery. They had been observed to pass in this man- 
ner to their roost for a considerable time, and, at daybreak, 
they were seen again to proceed and disperse for subsistence. 
How long this timid and gregarious habit continues, I cannot 
pretend to say ; but by the first week in February the song of 
the Redbird was almost daily heard. As the season advances, 
roving pairs, living, as it were, only with and for each other, flit 
from place to place ; and following also their favorite insect or 
vegetable fare, many proceed back to the same cool region in 
which they were bred, and from which they were reluctantly 
driven ; while others, impelled by interest, caprice, and adven- 
ture, seek to establish new families in the most remote limits of 
their migration. Some of these more restless wanderers occa- 
sionally, though rarely, favor this part of New England with a 
visit. After listening with so much delight to the lively fife of 
the splendid Cardinal, as I travelled alone through the deep and 
