(_Cardinalis cardinalis_) Finch family
_Called also_: CRESTED REDBIRD; VIRGINIA REDBIRD; VIRGINIA
NIGHTINGALE; CARDINAL BIRD
(Illustration facing p. 198)
_Length_--8 to 9 inches. 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.
_Range_--Eastern United States. A Southern bird, becoming more
and more common during the summer in States north of Virginia,
especially in Ohio, south of which it is resident throughout
the year.
_Migrations_--Resident rather than migrating birds, remaining
throughout the winter in localities where they have found
their way. Travel in flocks.
Among the numerous names by which this beautiful bird is known, it has
become immortalized under the title of Mr. James Lane Allen's
exquisite book, "The Kentucky Cardinal." Here, while we are given a
most charmingly sympathetic, delicate account of the bird "who has
only to be seen or heard, and Death adjusts an arrow," it is the
cardinal's pathetic fate that impresses one most. Seen through less
poetical eyes, however, the bird appears to be a haughty autocrat, a
sort of "F. F. V." among the feathered tribes, as, indeed, his title,
"Virginia redbird," has been unkindly said to imply. Bearing himself
with a refined and courtly dignity, not stooping to soil his feet by
walking on the ground like the more democratic robin, or even
condescending below the level of the laurel bushes, the cardinal is
literally a shining example of self-conscious superiority--a bird to
call forth respect and admiration rather than affection. But a group
of cardinals in a cedar tree in a snowy winter landscape makes us
forgetful of everything but their supreme beauty.
As might be expected in one of the finch family, the cardinal
is a songster--the fact which, in connection with his lovely
plumage, accounts for the number of these birds shipped in cages
to Europe, where they are known as Virginia nightingales. Commencing
with a strong, rich whistle, like the high notes of a fife,
"_Cheo-cheo-cheo-cheo_," repeated over and over as if to make perfect
the start of a song he is about to sing, suddenly he stops, and you
learn that there is to be no glorious performance after all, only a
prelude to--nothing. The song, such as it is, begins, with both male
and female, in March, and lasts, with a brief intermission, until
September--"the most melodious sigh," as Mr. Allen calls it. Early in
May the cardinals build a bulky and loosely made nest, usually in the
holly, laurel, or other evergreen shrubs that they always love to
frequent, especially if these are near fields of corn or other grain.
And often two broods in a year come forth from the pale-gray,
brown-marked eggs, bearing what is literally for them the "fatal gift
of beauty."