cardinal (bird)

cardinal or redbird, common name for a North American songbird of the family Fringillidae (New World finch family). In the eastern cardinal, Richmondena cardinalis, the male is bright scarlet with black throat and face; the female is brown with patches of red. Both sexes have crests and red bills. The Arizona, gray-tailed, Louisiana, and San Lucas cardinals frequent the S United States and Mexico. The pyrrhuloxia of the SW United States, gray with red face, crest, breast, and tail, is called gray cardinal or parrotbill. Cup-shaped nests are built by male and female, and the male helps rear the young. Cardinals are essentially monogamous, and are not very gregarious. They are classified in the phylum Chordata , subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Passeriformes, family Fringillidae.

cardinal Any member of a family of small to medium-sized, bunting-like birds that are confined to North and Central America. Family Fringillidae.

Cardinalidae (cardinals, grosbeaks, saltators; class Aves, order Passeriformes) A family of medium to large, heavy-bodied finches that have large conical bills: the males are often highly coloured (e.g. the six species of Pheucticus are yellow and black, orange and black, or red, white, and black). They inhabit woodland, feeding on fruit, seeds, blossoms, and insects and are tree-nesting. Cardinalis cardinalis (cardinal) is a common cage bird. There are 8–13 genera, with 39 species, often combined with Fringillidae or Emberizidae, and found in N., Central, and S. America.