The New State Bird
When the reeent legislature adopted the
cardinal as the official state bird, thou¬
sands of school-children throughout the
state sighed with relief.
Bi/ MRS. MAX .4BERNETIIY
FROM the time that tho Great
Seal was authorized by the State
Constitution, North Carolina
has been in no great hurry to add its
other oflioial emblems. The state did
not have a flag until the present one
was adopted in 1885, nor a motto until
1S93 when “Esse Quam Videri” was
added to the seal.
In 1927 William Gaston’s “Caro¬
lina, Carolina” became the State song,
and the dogwood blossom was named
our official dower in 1941. In 1931,
under the sponsorship of tho State
Women’s Club the Carolina chickadee
was adopted as the State bird. How¬
ever, this act was repealed seven days
later when many people feared that
we might become known ns the “Tom¬
tit state.”
Worried School Children
This absenee of a State bird has
particularly upset North Carolina’s
school children. Each year hundreds
of them wrote prim little supervised
notes to the various State departments
asking the name of our official bird,
and when they wore told that there
was none, they were neither proud nor
pleased.
It. ha- remained for the General As¬
sembly of 1943 to put an end to this
condition, for just before it closed
its session it named the cardinal as
North Carolina’s official and all-time
feathered representative. Thus over
a period of more than one hundred and
fifty years we have finally adopted our
six current state emblems.
You might not think off-hand that
selecting a state bird was a matter of
too great importance, but with the
Garden and Bird clubs, bird fanciers
and hobbyists interesting themselves
in the selection, there was right much
of a bird lobby before the cardinal
was finally selected. And now that
this scarlet beauty has become a
member of our official family it might
be interesting to learn something of
its life history.
The cardinal may have come over
in the Mayflower, but it does not have
as old family tree as other birds we
could name. For instance, it is not
mentioned in the Bible and neither
is it one of the better known birds
in ancient mythology, but it has been
immortalized in modern literature
through
Л
ames Land Allen's exquisite
book, “The Kentucky Cardinal.” and
it is more or less associated with that
State.
In Virginia the cardinal is called
the “Virginia redbird" and in other
localities the cardinal grosbeak. Some¬
one has described him thus: “The
bird appears to be a haughty auto¬
crat, a sort of F. F. V. among the
feathered tribes. Bearing himself
with a refined and courtly dignity,
not stooping to soil his feet by walk¬
ing on tho ground like the more
democratic robin, or oven condescend¬
ing below the level of the laurel
hushes, the cardinal is literally a shin¬
ing example of self-conscious supe¬
riority — a bird to call forth respect
rather than affection. But u group
of cardinals in a cedar tree in a snowy
winter landscape makes us forgetful
of everything but their supreme
beauty.”
A Vivid Coat
In case you are not familiar with
the cardinal you will know him by his
vivid vermilion scarlet coat. He has
a black mask on his face and throat
but his large bill and crest are scarlet.
When not overshadowed by the cardi¬
nal's more brilliant coloring his mate
is not as drab as she might appear in
comparison with him. Her feathers
are of olive-grayish tone showing a
little vermilion on wings and tail.
But she has a gift not generally lie-
stowed on her sex — she can sing and
warble as well as her mate.
The cardinal usually first wakes you
with his “pretty ! pretty ! pretty !”
early in March. His song, which Mr.
Allen calls the “most melodious sigh.”
lasts until September. He makes his
home in the undergrowth of open
woodlands or in evergreen shrubbery
where he builds his nest early in
May. The cardinal is not a particu¬
lar homesteader. His nest is care¬
lessly made of twigs, barkstrips, weed
stems and grass, but it is carefully
lined with fine grass or hair. How¬
ever, he is a most attentive mate and
serenades his lady beautifully as she
sits on her nest, and feeds on the fat
of the land. Often two broods in a
year come forth from the pale-gray,
brown marked eggs, bearing what is
for thorn the “fatal gift ot' beauty."
Often the male bird has to tend his
young nestlings while the mate is busy
with her second brooding, and he is
both n wise and indulgent parent.
Friend of the Gardener
Fortunate Is the gardener who has
the cardinal as his ally ami assistant,
for ho destroys all kinds of harmful
garden pests ami insects. He likes
principally besides these things grain,
nuts and suet.
Tho cardinal because he i- an able
songster as well as a handsome bird,
was at one time used quite extensively
as a cage bird. Quantities of them
were sent to Europe each year where
they wore known ns Virginia night¬
ingale». As far back as 10(19 we have
a record that they sold as high as
$10.00 and that the Spaniards often
spent as much as $18,000 on them
yearly.
There urc several folklore stories
about the cardinal but the one that
is most appealing is an old legend
from tho Natchez Indians of Missis¬
sippi. It runs like this:
“In order to weather the great flood
the Great Sachem with hi. mate had
climbed in the tallest tree on top of
tho tallest mountain in all tlm world.
Ho then commanded a pair each of
all the birds and animals to take ref¬
uge in other trees. They remained
there for three days with the water
reaching their chins. When the water
subsided the Great Sachem and his
mate and all the birds and animals
came down to a water-soaked world
where fire was the thing they needed
most.
“Great Sachem sent a beaver to tho
( Continued on page seventeen )
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