Cardinal Bird, or RED BIRD (Cardinalis virginianus), also called Cardinal Finch, Cardinal
(Cardinalis virginianus).
Grosbeak, and Virginian Nightingale, one of the finest song-birds of America, belongs to the family of finches or Fringillidae, and differs from the true grosbeaks (Coccothraustes) in having the beak slightly bulging. The general colour of the male is red, the head being vermilion, and only a small portion of the plumage around the base of the bill and on the upper throat being black. The feathers of the crown are long, and erected into a conical crest, like a red cap. The female is fallow brown above, and yellowish brown below. The cardinal abounds in Texas, Florida, and the southern states of America generally, migrating northwards in spring, but never farther than Massachusetts, where only a few stragglers are seen. Its loud, clear, sweet, and varied song is to be heard chiefly in the mornings and evenings. In size it exceeds any of the British Fringillidae, being about equal to the starling.