It is given by Mr. Dresser as common throughout the whole of Texas during the summer, and almost throughout the year, excepting only where the _P. sinuata_ is found. At Matamoras it was very common, and may be seen caged in almost every Mexican hut. He found it breeding in great abundance about San Antonio in April and May. Mr. Cassin states that the Cardinal Bird is also known by the name of Virginia Nightingale. He adds that it inhabits, for the greater part, low and damp woods in which there is a profuse undergrowth of bushes, and is particularly partial to the vicinity of watercourses. The male bird is rather shy and careful of exposing himself. Wilson mentions that in the lower parts of the Southern States, in the neighborhood of settlements, he found them more numerous than elsewhere. Their clear and lively notes, even in the months of January and February, were, at that season, almost the only music. Along the roadsides and fences he found them hovering in small groups, associated with Snowbirds and various kinds of Sparrows. Even in Pennsylvania they frequent the borders of creeks and rivulets during the whole year, in sheltered hollows, covered with holly, laurel, and other evergreens. They are very fond of Indian corn, a grain that is their favorite food. They are also said to feed on various kinds of fruit. The males of this species, during the breeding season, are described as very pugnacious, and when confined together in the same cage they fight violently. The male bird has even been known to destroy its mate. In Florida Mr. Audubon found these birds mated by the 8th of February. The nest is built in bushes, among briers, or in low trees, and in various situations, the middle of a field, near a fence, or in the interior of a thicket, and usually not far from running water. It has even been placed in the garden close to the planter’s house. It is loosely built of dry leaves and twigs, with a large proportion of dry grasses and strips of the bark of grapevines. Within, it is finished and lined with finer stems of grasses wrought into a circular form. There are usually two, and in the more Southern States three, broods in a season. Mr. Audubon adds that they are easily raised from the nest, and have been known to breed in confinement. The eggs of this species are of an oblong-oval shape, with but little difference at either end. Their ground-color appears to be white, but is generally so thickly marked with spots of ashy-brown and faint lavender tints as to permit but little of its ground to be seen. The eggs vary greatly in size, ranging from 1.10 inches to .98 of an inch in length, and from .80 to .78 in breadth. Cardinalis virginianus, var. igneus, BAIRD. CAPE CARDINAL. _Cardinalis igneus_, BAIRD, Pr. Ac. Sc. Phila. 1859, 305 (Cape St. Lucas).—ELLIOT, Illust. N. Am. Birds, I, xvi.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 238. _Cardinalis virginianus_, FINSCH, Abh. Nat. Brem. 1870, 339.