276 
FRINGILLA CARDINALIS. 
together in a cage, fight violently. On placing a 
looking-glass before the cage, the gesticulations of the 
tenant are truly laughable ; yet with this he soon 
becomes so well acquainted, that, in a short time, he 
takes no notice whatever of it ; a pretty good proof 
that he has discovered the true cause of the appearance 
to proceed from himself. They are hardy birds, easily 
kept, sing six or eight months in the year, and are most 
lively in w r et weather. They are generally known by 
the names, red-bird, Virginia red-bird, Virginia night- 
ingale, and crested red-bird, to distinguish them from 
another beautiful species, the red tanager, 
I do not know that any successful attempts have been 
made to induce these birds to pair and breed in confine- 
ment ; but I have no doubt of its practicability, by 
proper management. Some months ago, I placed a 
young unfledged cow bird (the fringilla pecoris of 
Turton,) whose mother, like the cuckoo of Europe, 
abandons her eggs and progeny to the mercy and 
management of other smaller birds, in the same cage 
with a red-bird, which fed and reared it with great 
tenderness. They both continue to inhabit the same 
cage, and 1 have hopes that the red-bird will finish his 
pupil’s education, by teaching him his song. 
I must here again remark, for the information of 
foreigners, that the story told by Le Page du Pratz, in 
his History of Louisiana , and which has been so often 
repeated by other writers, that the cardinal grosbeak 
C£ collects together great hoards of maize and buck- 
wheat, often as much as a bushel, which it artfully 
covers with leaves and small t wigs, leaving only a small 
hole for entrance into the magazine,” is entirely fabu- 
lous. 
This species is eight inches long, and eleven in 
extent ; the whole upper parts are a dull dusky red, 
except the sides of the neck and head, which, as well 
as the whole lower parts, are bright vermilion ; chin, 
front, and lores, black ; the head is ornamented with a 
high, pointed crest, which it frequently erects in an 
almost perpendicular position; and can also flatten- at 
