THE CARDINAL*
By WILLIAM DUTCHER
President of National Association of Audubon Societies
National Association of Audubon Societies
EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 18
The Cardinal is one of the most brilliant of American birds: the name is derived from its color, which is a deep red, somewhat less vivid than scarlet. This color is supposed to be named from the vestments of a cardinal, an ecclesiastic of high rank in the Roman Church. 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 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, thence southward to Texas, where it is found in the greater part of the state. These lines are arbitrary, but are given in order that a teacher may show scholars in a general way where Cardinals can be found. Further, they give teachers and pupils who reside outside these limits an opportunity to extend the Cardinal's known range by proving that it lives in their locality.
There have been records of the Cardinal made as far north as Nova Scotia and southern Ontario,' but it is believed that these were escaped cage- birds,t the Cardinal, probably owing to its beauty of plumage and richness of song, having long been a favorite cage-bird. Alexander Wilson, in 'American Ornithology' (Vol. II, page 145), which was published in 1828, says: "This is one of our most common cage-birds, and is very generally known, not only in North America, but even in Europe; numbers of
- THE CARDINAL
Order — Passeres Family — Fringilldæ
Genus — Cardinalis Species — Cardinalis
†Read the charming story "The Cardinal at the Hub " in BiRD-LORE, Vol. I, page 81, by Ella Gilbert Ives.
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