8 Field Museum of Natural History 



that has become fairly common in the past ten years, 

 until now nearly every town about Chicago has at 

 least a few pairs. They are gradually increasing, and, 

 as they are not only beautiful birds, but also wonder- 

 ful singers, are more than welcome. 



There are three irregular winter visitants which 

 feed on the seeds of pine cones and, therefore, are most 

 apt to be found in regions where conifers are plentiful. 

 The first of these, the Pine Grosbeak, appears about 

 every four or five years. At times it is very shy, 

 difficult of approach and easily frightened, and again 

 may be very tame and fearless. Besides pine seeds, 

 it feeds on the fruits of various shrubs. The Ameri- 

 can and White-winged Crossbills occur a little more 

 often than the Grosbeaks, the American being the more 

 common of the two. When in flocks, they are very 

 wild and hard to approach, but when only two or 

 three are together, they can almost be caught in the 

 hand. When feeding, which they do both upright or 

 hanging head downward, they are quiet and difficult to 

 see in the pines. The Newfoundland Crossbill, a sub- 

 species of the American, has been taken here only 

 once. The Crossbills are very erratic and many may 

 be seen in a certain spot one day, and on the next, all 

 will have gone. While primarily winterbirds, they 

 have been found here in June and August. 



Another species, occurring here intermittently, is 

 the Bohemian Wax wing, which appears in large num- 

 bers during some years, generally about the last of 

 November. On the 30th of this month, in 1919, a large 

 flight of these birds was observed at Beach, Illinois. 

 Flocks of fifty to a hundred passed overhead every five 

 or ten minutes, from seven in the morning until noon, 

 a few stopping to feed on the juniper berries. About 

 fifteen hundred passed at that time and spread out 

 over Chicago. Some twenty-five stayed about a moun- 



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