where the male is black.
A Summer Citizen of the United States east of the plains, and along the
southern border of Canada. Nests northward from Georgia. Winters south
of the Middle States.
A Ground Gleaner, Seed Sower, and Weed Warrior.
THE CARDINAL (THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK)
"There is a legend about this Cardinal--the soldier with a red uniform,"
said the Doctor; "one of Mammy Bun's strange stories that came from the
Indians to the negroes, always growing larger and stranger.
"There were two Indian warriors of the southwest that hated each other.
One had an only daughter and the other a son. While their fathers were
at war, this boy and girl met in the green forest. The old women of
their tribes told them that they must never speak to each other, or
their fathers would surely kill them. But the children said, 'There is
no war or hate in our forest; the birds meet--why may not we?' One
summer evening they stayed too long, watching the fish swim in the river
and floating little sticks for canoes. The two warriors returned
suddenly to their villages, missed their children, and then some one
told them tales.
[Illustration: Cardinal.]
"The wind whispered to the trees, 'Trouble, trouble! These warriors hate
each other more than they love their children. Hide them, O trees!' Then
the trees whispered to the birds, 'Help the poor children--help, help!'
And the birds said, 'They shall be turned into birds and escape, if you
will make a little fire, O wind, to delay the warriors and give us
time.'
"So the trees told the fireflies to light the dead leaves that covered
the ground; the wind breathed on the fire, and soon the wood was all
aflame!
"'What birds do you choose to be, that you may always live in the forest
together?' asked the Bird Brothers of the children. 'Answer quickly, for
the time is short.'
"'I will be a large brown Sparrow,' said the girl; 'then none will trap
me for my feathers.'
"'And I too,' said the boy.
"Suddenly they were no longer children. But there was confusion, as the
fire burned nearer and nearer. "'Fly! fly!' cried the Bird Brothers.
'You have wings--do not look at the earth, lest you grieve to leave it.'
"Gonda, being obedient, made an effort to fly above the flame, which
only tinged some of her feathers red. But Towai, loath to leave the
earth, lingered so long that his feathers became all red from the
flames, and the soot blackened his face.
"Though these two birds
|