274 
FRINGILLA CARDINALIS. 
musical ; many of them resemble the high notes of a 
fife, and are nearly as loud. They are in song' from 
March to September, beginning at the first appearance 
of dawn, and repeating a favourite stanza, or passage, 
twenty or thirty times successively ; sometimes, with 
little intermission, for a whole morning together, which, 
like a good story too often repeated, becomes at length 
tiresome and insipid. But the sprightly figure, and 
gaudy plumage, of the red bird, his vivacity, strength 
of voice, and actual variety of note, and the little 
expense with which he is kept, will always make him 
a favourite. 
This species, like the mocking bird, is more numerous 
to the east of the great range of the Alleghany moun- 
tains, and inhabits from New England to Carthagena. 
Michaux the younger, son to the celebrated botanist, 
informed me, that he found this bird numerous in the 
Bermudas. In Pennsylvania and the Northern States 
it is rather a scarce species ; but through the whole 
lower parts of the Southern States, in the neighbourhood 
of settlements, I found them much more numerous ; 
their clear and lively notes, in the months of January 
and February, being, at that time, almost the only music 
of the season. Along the roadsides and fences I found 
them hovering in half dozens together, associated with 
snow birds, and various kinds of sparrows. In the 
Northern States, they are migratory ; but in the lower 
parts of Pennsylvania, they reside during the whole 
year, frequenting the borders of creeks and rivulets, in 
sheltered hollows covered with holly, laurel, and other 
evergreens. They love also to reside in the vicinity of 
fields of Indian corn, a grain that constitutes their chief 
and favourite food. The seeds of apples, cherries, and 
of many other sorts of fruit, are also eaten by them ; 
and they are accused of destroying bees. 
In the months of March and April, the males have 
many violent engagements for their favourite females. 
Early in May, in Pennsylvania, they begin to prepare 
their nest, which is very often fixed in a holly, cedar, 
or laurel bush. Outwardly, it is constructed of small 
