them having been carried over both to France and England, in which last country they are usually called Virginia Nightingales.”
Dr. Russ, the great German aviculturist, says, “Beloved in its home by both Americans and Germans, it is protected and caught only for the cage-bird fancy. Had been bred in Holland a century and a half ago and later in England.” It is true that until recently large numbers of Cardinals were caught or taken from the nest while young, for shipment to foreign countries by bird dealers. Owing to the efforts of the National Association, this traffic is a thing of the past. The Model Law, which is in force in all the states where the Cardinal is found, prohibits all traffic in these birds and forbids their being shipped from the state.
The Cardinal is too beautiful and valuable a bird to be confined within the narrow limits of a cage, where its splendid spirit is soon broken by it unavailing attempts to escape. Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller, in one of her charming pictures of bird life, says of a captive Cardinal, that, “He is a cynic, morose and crusty.” Such a character cannot be attributed to the Cardinal when it is at liberty. Its wild free song, its restless activity and its boldness are the antithesis of a depressed cage captive. Even when it receives the best care from its human jailor it is still a prisoner confined in a space so small that it never has an opportunity to stretch its wings in flight, nor can it ever bathe in the bright sunshine or view the blue skies above it. The whispering of the winds through the sylvan shades is lost to the captive forever. Is it strange that the nature of this wild free spirit changes?
The writer has seen many hundreds of these beautiful birds in cages ready to be shipped, each one doomed to a short existence, a prisoner and an exile. Fortunately, this condition is now changed; and, had the National Association accomplished no other good, the stopping of the cage-bird trafic would be a sufficient reason for its organization.
In the South, where the Cardinal is one of the most abundant birds, it is a special favorite, rivaling the Mocking-bird in the affections of the people. It is commonly found in the towns as well as the rural districts. The female bird builds the nest, which is loosely constructed of leaves, bark, twigs, shreds of grape-vine, and is lined with dry grasses. The nest is placed in bushes or vines from eight to ten feet from the ground. Three or four white eggs, speckled with brown, are laid, and it is probable that in the South two broods of young are raised each season. The home life of Cardinals is a pattern of domestic felicity, so true are the sexes to each other. Even in winter they seem to be paired, for a male and a female are always seen together. However, during the season of incubation the tender solicitude of the male for his mate is best shown. In fact, his extreme anxiety that the home and its inmates should not be discovered excites him so much that he actually leads the visitor to the nest in the attempt to mislead.
The song of the male Cardinal is loud and clear, with a melodious ring,
