Number of Eggs in a Set of the 
Cardinal. 
In Hale County, Alabama, three eggs con- 
stitute a complete set of the Cardinal. More 
then three have never been found by me, nor 
by any one else whom I know in this locality. 
Dr. J. M. Pickett of Cedarville, Alabama, has 
j had the same experience as myself; he has 
never collected a set of more than three of the 
Cardinal, although he has taken many sets. 
The Cardinal is one of our commonest birds, 
nesting from early in April till September, and 
therefore producing more than one set. This 
bird may lay fewer eggs to the set than in lo- 
calities farther north, where the nesting period 
is short, and where one set may be the usual 
number. 
Davie in Next* and Eyys of North Ameri- 
can Birds says that the Red-eyed Vireo lays 
“three or four eggs;” in this latitude it lays 
only three. Having, like the Cardinal, a 
longer time for nesting, it produces fewer eggs 
to the set, but in all probability lays three 
more sets than in colder regions. It would be 
a very great surprise to me to find a set of 
more than three eggs in a nest of the Cardi- 
nal or of the Red-eyed Vireo. I Vm. C. Avery. 
Greensboro, Ala. , .x 
De o , - 1 8 9Q, /&' 
Editor of 0. & O.: 
In the spring of 1885, in Van Wert County, 
Ohio, I directed my attention almost exclus- 
ively to the nesting of the Cardinal. Of 
twenty-one sets, sixteen had four eggs each, 
four three eggs each, and one had two eggs. 
The latter was in an incomplete nest found 
1 August 15th, a second set, no doubt. After 
| laying her second egg she began incubating at 
5 once, successfully hatching and rearing her 
| two young. My first nest was found Apiil 
‘201 h, containing four young. 
I think I saw an inquiry in the O. & O. as 
J to whether the crows’ good taste for young 
I chickens is a late thing or not; I think not. 
In the summer of 1840 I saw a crow drop 
| down in a meadow where there was a hen with 
her brood, and at the fourth attempt up he 
came with a little white chick in his beak, 
and made off to the woods. I remember it as 
jSfo* Egga in Sat- C, S. Brimley 
"•Cardinal. Standard set, three. Variation, 
apparently none, as my sets of two have al- 
ways* bden open to the doubt that some boy 
took No. 3 before I got there. 
[Four eggs of the Cardinal are as frequently 
found as three. A very large series of their 
eggs (from all localities) now before me con- 
firms this. — J. P. IV] 
0«*O, 16. oot.180©. P.14S 
No. Eggs in Set. OXBrimlsv 
Cardinal. As usual the sets were all three, 
which is the invariable number here, and also 
at Greensboro, Alabama, according to Dr. 
Avery. I do not, however, wish to be under- 
stood as asserting that the set may not be four 
elsewhere, as I think birds quite liable to lay 
more or less eggs to a set in other localities 
than they do here. 
O.&o* XVI. 3an, 1891, p.8 
1LOGIST. Brief Notes. HI 
I took a set of Cardinal Grosbeak in the 
neighborhood of Detroit, and thinking it would 
prove of interest to Michigan collectors, I 
thought best to write you, so they could be 
reached through your paper, the O. & O. 
On the 19th inst., the set was taken. Three 
badly incubated eggs constituted the clutch, 
with dimensions as follows: one egg . 95 x. 75; 
two eggs 1.05 x. SO; color, a pale, yellowish- 
green, dotted and blotched with different 
shades of brown and lilac principally at the 
large end. The nest was made of weed stalks, 
grape-vine bark and cedar bark, lined with 
fine, round grass, and placed in brier bush a 
few feet over a ditch which ran alongside of 
the road. Bird was seen and so identified. 
Qy. 
0.&OVol.l7, July, 1892 p.lll 
if but yesterday. Boeder. 
Cheboygan, Mich. 
Q&0,XVXt April. 1691. p. • 
ft £ 
[6 Cardinalis cardinalis. Cardinal. The Red " 
bird is not often troubled by this bird’s mis- 
deeds but I once found and collected three nests 
o tl e Cowb.rd while searching a swampy wood! 
nr the vicinity of Lima Lake, where a large 
number were found nesting. 
Q.&O. XlV.Sept. 1089 p 133 
C ardinal Redbird in Confinement. Replying to an 
inquiry which appeared in May last, (VII I, 38) as to the 
possibility of keeping certain birds in confinement, Frank 
Wentworth , Chicago , III ., writes “I have a Cardinal Red- 
bird which was caught last April in the southern part of 
Louisiana. Pie is as healthy and contented as he possibly 
can be. His principal food consists of bird-seed and rice. 
He also likes any green food and fruits, especially a Cali- 
ifornia grape. In the summer time, when flies are numer- 
ous, he catches them too, and seems to relish them hugely. 
His song consists of three long drawn whistles followed by 
three short ones, repeated thrice.” O.&O. IX. Feb. 1884. pMf 
I ^ 
