Cardinal (bird)

“ These birds are great favorites in the South, rivaling the mockingbirds in the affections of many people. In the North, a glimpse of a cardinal marks a red-letter day; and bird-lovers whose kind hands spread bountiful tables for winter residents, count themselves highly favored to have a pair of cardinals for their guests. Aside from the joy which their beauty and their song bring, they possess great practical value. ”

“ In addition to its great esthetic value of song and plumage, the Cardinal has another important character which should endear it to the husbandman. Its food is various, consisting of wild fruits such as grapes, berries, mulberries, cedar berries, seeds of grasses and of many species of weeds, also large numbers of adult beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, flies, ants and their larvae; it is especially fond of rose-bugs. The Cardinal is from every point of view a bird of great interest and value, and any person who makes its intimate acquaintance will form a life-long friendship. ”

“ European naturalists are by no means so enthusiastic in their notices of this bird, and pronounce its song to be more striking than beautiful. The Cardinal is easily reared in captivity, but it is so quarrelsome as to be dangerous to any companions confined in the same cage. ”

“ Bird study sharpens the sight wonderfully, and teaches boys and girls the importance of accurate observation. The cardinal, a larger bird, is almost as large as a robin; he is a rich, deep red all over, and not a scarlet shade. Moreover he wears a pointed crest by which you may always know him, while the tanager, whose head is smooth, may be certainly named by his black wings and tail. ”

“ The Cardinal Bird’s song consists of a favorite stanza often repeated, with boldness, variety of tone and richness. Its whistling somewhat resembles that of the human voice, though its energy is much greater. In his native grove, his voice rises above almost every other songster except the Mocking-Bird. The powers of the female are almost equal to those of the male, of whom she is a most constant and affectionate partner.
Latham admits that the notes of the Cardinal “are almost equal to those of the Nightingale,” the sweetest of the feathered minstrels of Europe. ”

“ We drew down the vine, photographed the nest, and restored the nest to its original position. Calling the following week I found the mother bird had incubated the brood as though nothing had happened, but the young were taken from the nest as soon as they could be moved and some days before they would ordinarily have been allowed to leave home. Although the cardinal is naturally shy and retiring, at times he will permit one to get very close. I am glad to think that in many of the States this beautiful bird is increasing under the protection of the law. ”

“ The length of the Cardinal is a little over eight inches from tip of bill to end of tail.
Once seen, the Cardinal can never be mistaken for any other bird, especially as its plumage virtually never changes but remains much the same at all seasons of the year. Cardinals are resident wherever they are found, and their center of abundance is in the southern portion of the United States. The northern limit of its range is approximately a line drawn from a point in the vicinity of New York City, westward to southeastern Nebraska ”

“ The female bird, while not so conspicuous as her mate, is clad in a rich brown with just enough of red to light it up. They are indeed a striking pair, and wherever they are found soon become favorites. They are known as Cardinal Grosbeaks, Red-birds, Crested Red-birds, Virginia Nightingales, and lately James Lane Allen has made familiar Kentucky Cardinal. The illustration shows the Cardinal's most prominent features—a very large strong bill, a conspicuous crest, which can be erected or depressed at will, short rounded wings and a long tail. ”

“ The group of birds to which that now before us belongs, is composed of four or five species remarkable for their graceful forms and very showy colors, all of which inhabit North and Central America. In addition to the attractions of their plumage, these birds possess very considerable powers of voice, though by no means entitled to be ranked as songsters. The Cardinal bird, known also by the names of Virginia Nightingale and Red Bird, is the only species inhabiting the States north of Texas, and is frequently met with at all seasons in the States on the Atlantic. ”

“ The Cardinal, with a royal flourish, sprang in air to seek her; but her outraged mate was ahead of him, and with a scream she fled, leaving a tuft of feathers in her mate's beak. In turn the Cardinal struck him like a flashing rocket, and then red war waged in Rainbow Bottom. The females scattered for cover with all their might. The Cardinal worked in a kiss on one poor little bird, too frightened to escape him; then the males closed in, and serious business began. The Cardinal would have enjoyed a fight vastly with two or three opponents ”

“ As March goes out, two things more and more I hear—the cardinal has begun to mount to the bare tops of the locust-trees and scatter his notes downward, and over the way the workmen whistle and sing. The bird is too shy to sit in any tree on that side of the yard. ”

“ Then the Cardinal went to the river and bathed. He made such delightful play of it, and the splash of the water sounded so refreshing to the tired draggled bird, that she could not resist venturing for a few dips. When she was wet she could not fly well, and he improved the opportunity to pull her broken quills, help her dress herself, and bestow a few extra caresses. He guided her to his favourite place for a sun bath; and followed the farmer's plow in the corn field until he found a big sweet beetle. ”

“ As a cage-bird this Finch enjoys an extraordinary popularity; and a stranger in Buenos Ayres, seeing the numbers that are exposed for sale by the bird-dealers in the markets of that city, might fancy that a Cardinal in a cage is considered a necessary part of the ménage of every house in the country. This large supply of caged birds comes from South Brazil, Paraguay, and the north-eastern part of the Argentine country, where the Cardinals are most abundant and unite in large flocks. ”

“ The other birds in the room were not slow to take advantage of one who never defended himself. In particular a Brazilian cardinal, a bold saucy fellow with a scarlet pointed crest and a loud voice, evidently considered the tanager cage common ground, open to everybody, until the goldfinch undertook its defense. It was amusing to see the small bird stand just inside, and rage, puff himself out, wave his wings, and fairly drive away the foe. ”

“ From southeastern South Dakota, Iowa, northern Indiana and Ohio, southeastern and southwestern Pennsylvania, southern Hudson Valley, south to the Gulf States; a resident of Bermuda. Cardinals are not migratory.
Cardinals are especially numerous in our Southern States. They abound in Florida and Bermuda, where their brilliant coloring contrasts wonderfully with the light sands and the coral limestone. A cardinal singing in an hibiscus bush, laden with gorgeous red blooms, makes a never-to-be-forgotten memory ”

“ This subject has been brought very forcibly to our mind by two papers published in this number of Bird-Lore, and, without going into details, we wish collectors of birds and their eggs would read carefully the articles entitled 'The Cardinal at the Hub' and 'Home-Life in a Chimney,' and then tell us frankly whether they do not think that the facts therein set forth constitute a more valuable contribution to the science of ornithology than a Cardinal's skin and five white egg-shells. If they are both discriminating and sincere, we believe they will admit the truth of Bird-Lore's motto. ”

“ The male is entirely red except for the black face. No other redbird shows a tuft or has such a heavy, orange bill. The female is dressed more in keeping with family duties for yellowish-brown plumage offers more protection to her and the secluded nest. She always shows a reddish tinge especially on the crest, wings and tail. These markings combined with the conical reddish beak, leave little doubt as to identity. The young resemble the female.
The Cardinal, slightly smaller than a Robin, can be found in almost any area which includes thickets or tangled vines for protected nesting sites. ”

“ I have lately heard some persons speak of this bird as the 'Kentucky Cardinal,' an illustration of the influence of literature in idealizing a thing and making it a part of one's emotional assets.
We have nothing in America that quite takes the place of the English skylark and the nightingale. The mockingbird, the thrasher, the bobolink, the wood thrush, the hermit thrush, and the veery are so entirely different in their songs and their surroundings that comparison of any one of them with either of the foreign birds is impossible. ”

“ Aided by an instrument which he had hastily constructed out of the lanceolate leaves of the cane, he at the same time imitated the scream and chatter of the red cardinal (Loxia cardinalis) , just as when that bird is engaged in battle, either with a serpent, an opossum, or some other of its habitual enemies.
The sounds produced were exactly similar to those often heard in the depths of the American forest, when the dread crotalus plunders the nest of the Virginian nightingale.
The stratagem proved successful. In a few moments the lozenge-shaped head of the reptile appeared outside the cavity. ”

“ It would be impossible to see either the Texas or the Arizona bird for the first time without comparing it with the cardinal, the two are so much alike, and yet so different. The cardinal is brighter, but for beauty give me Pyrrhuloxia. I do not expect the sight of any other bird ever to fill me with quite so rapturous a delight in pure color as that first unlooked-for [276] Pyrrhuloxia did in the San Antonio chaparral. ”

“ She was a beauty, too. It is well known that the cardinal himself has a full suit of the most brilliant red, but it is not so familiar a fact that the dames of the tribe are more modest and wear the family colors simply as linings and in subdued tints: rich rose-colored wing-facings, light coral-hued beak, delicate pink crest, all toned down by the soft olive brown of the breast and back, over which is everywhere a lovely suggestion of red. [Pg 208]
The home of Virginia, when she came to the bird-room, was a large cage by the window ”

“ I have seen this species more times than any other this month—of course, excepting the common Sparrow.
On nearing our 'hunting-grounds,' we heard the familiar 'cree-e' of a Brown Creeper, and soon discovered the little fellow hard at work, as usual. A little later we came upon the beautiful Cardinal, with his two wives. It is a fact that there are one male and two - 58 - females, though probably only one is his real mate. ”

“ A little smaller than the robin.
Male — Brilliant cardinal; chin and band around bill black. Beak
stout and red. Crest conspicuous. In winter dress, wings washed
with gray.
Female — Brownish yellow above, shading to gray below. Tail
shorter than the male's. Crest, wings, and tail reddish. Breast
sometimes tinged with red. ”

“ While nesting, the cardinal is rather savage, ready to fight any one who disturbs the nest. If a snake comes about, all the birds within hearing, from cardinals to kinglets, will come to help defend the nest and punish the enemy. They fly at him with loud cries, and even attack him if he does not leave.
The nest of these birds is not very high, in a tree or bush, and they are very shy about it. A cardinal will desert her nest if it is touched, especially if eggs are not yet laid. But they have reason to be afraid; they cannot be blamed for that. ”

“ In these bleak surroundings, a valiant and energetic gentleman in the scarlet cassock and biretta of a cardinal—a cardinal with wings and beak and feathers, you understand—was darting from point [Pg 210] to point of the big evergreen, from apex to branch, from branch to apex, a gorgeous splash of color against the clear green of the boughs and the blue-white of the snow.
The spruce, with the flitting cardinal on its boughs, stood at the side of the bishop’s grounds between his slate-roofed and ivy-clad house and the brick orphan asylum. ”

“ The Cardinal was hatched in a thicket of sweetbrier and blackberry. His father was a tough old widower of many experiences and variable temper. He was the biggest, most aggressive redbird in the Limberlost, and easily reigned king of his kind. Catbirds, king-birds, and shrikes gave him a wide berth, and not even the ever-quarrelsome jays plucked up enough courage to antagonize him. A few days after his latest bereavement, he saw a fine, plump young female; and she so filled his eye that he gave her no rest until she permitted his caresses, and carried the first twig to the wild rose. ”

“ They are remarkably restless, and rarely remain longer than a minute in one position; their flight is abrupt, rapid, and noisy, the movements of their wings being accompanied by a constant opening and closing of the tail; they seldom fly to any great distance, and hop nimbly, either upon the ground or in the trees. Should the winter prove severe, the Cardinal journeys southward in search of a milder climate, returning about March, in company with other migratory birds. ”

“ All my cardinals have been very strong birds, and never for one instant lose their spirit. Whenever I catch one—Virginian or Brazilian—they fight me, bite my fingers, and fall into a rage of resentment without terror. They know I won’t hurt them, but they want me to know that they are birds of too high lineage to be handled.
One day Red-top got one leg so tangled in a long bit of twine he was weaving into his nest that he could not move. ”