The Cardinal becomes Miles' emblem of the spirit in nature which transcends the Darwinian mechanism of natural selection. Cf. her description of the Cardinal in Our Southern Birds: "In all the world there is nothing braver than the heart of a singing bird. Can you think what it means to be so small and so beautiful in a world full of guns and traps, of cats and hawks, of crafty snakes and crows and squirrels and bluejays all of whom rob the nest,--and yet to sing and sing again that all nature is good, is good!" (24).