BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
245 
ground, in thickets and brush piles, hunting among the withered leaves 
and dead twigs. Its rustling scratch is often the only indication one 
will have of its presence. In addition to various small seeds and insects, 
Chewinks feed, also, more or less, in the late summer, autumn and win¬ 
ter, on different kinds of small fruits and berries. Occasionally, it is 
said, they visit potato vines and other plants on which the destructive 
Colorado potato-beetle feeds, and devour many of these troublesome 
“bugs.” 
Genus CARDINALIS Bonaparte. 
Cardinalis cardinalis (Linn.). 
Cardinal; Red-bird. 
Description (Plate 84 ). 
Young. — Bill blackish; colors duller; otherwise very similar to adult female. 
The young male soon attains his bright coat. Length about 9 inches ; extent about 12. 
Habitat .—Eastern United States, north to New Jersey and the Ohio valley (cas¬ 
ually larther) west to the plains. 
The Cardinal, or Winter Red-bird, as it is generally called, is a rather 
plentiful resident in the lower half of Pennsylvania, but in other sections 
of our state it is found chiefly as a rare or occasional visitor. The showy 
dress, the fine and varied vocal powers of this shy and vivacious whistler, 
are such that it is one of our most common and entertaining cage birds. 
Although usually found inhabiting briery thickets and wooded districts 
in the vicinage of rivers, ponds and swampy localities, these birds, 
mostly in winter, when pressed by hunger, and also occasionally in sum¬ 
mer, when in a measure they lack their usual vigilance and shyness, 
come about our yards, houses and bams in search of food, or to cheer 
and enliven us with their bright presence and pleasing notes. In the 
southern states and elsewhere where Red-birds are much more numerous 
than in Pennsylvania, they at times assemble in large companies during 
the winter in swampy thickets; in midwinter, with us, parties of a dozen 
or fifteen individuals are sometimes observed in similar situations. This 
species is generally seen in pairs, though in the late summer and fall 
the adults and young of the year of a single family are frequently found 
together. The nest, a loosely-built structure composed of twigs, weed 
stems, fibers of grape-vine bark, grasses or other vegetable materials, is 
built in bushes, vines and low trees. I have never found a nest situated 
over six or eight feet from the ground. The eggs, two to four in num¬ 
ber (usually three), are white or bluish-white, spotted with different 
shades of brown. They measure about one inch in length by three- 
fourths of an inch in width. Feeds on seeds of numerous plants, especially 
those of rank weeds and grasses; com, wheat, rye and oats are also eaten. 
They feed more or less on insects, chief among which are beetles, grass- 
