540 GRANIVOROUS BIRDS. 



The length of this species is about G^ inches. The bill brown 

 horn-color. Legs and feet light brown; claws large, much curved 

 and very sharp for the purpose of clinging to the cones and fruits on 

 which they feed. Irides brown. 



WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 



^Loxia leucoptera, Gmel. Curvirostra leucoptera, Wilson, iv. p. 

 48. pi. 31. fig. 3. [young male]. Bonap. Am. Orn. ii. pi. 14. fig. 

 3. [female]. 



Sp. Charact. — Wings with 2 white bands. — The different states 

 of plumage very similar to the preceding. — Young male more in- 

 clined to crimson, and without any yellow. 



This beautiful and well distinguished species inhab- 

 its the northern regions of the American continent only, 

 from whence, at irregular intervals, on the approach of 

 winter, they arrive in the Northern and Middle States ; 

 and, as usual, with the rest of this curious family, seek 

 out the pine and hemlock-spruce forests. Their visits 

 to this state are very irregular. About two years since 

 they were seen in large, gregarious, famished flocks, 

 near Newburyport, and other neighbouring towns in the 

 vicinity of the sea-coast, at which time many were 

 caught, killed, and caged. Their whole habits are 

 almost entirely similar to those of the preceding spe- 

 cies. 



According to Mr. Hutchins in Latham,* this species, 

 as is supposed, arrives around Hudson's Bay in March, 

 and in May builds a nest of grass, mud, and feathers, 

 fixed generally about half way up a pine tree, and lays 

 5 white eggs, marked with yellowish spots. The young 

 fly about the end of June. It remains in this country 

 till the close of November, after which it retires, proba- 

 bly to the South ; and Wilson's bird was obtained in the 



* Latham's General Synopsis, Supplement, i. p. 148. [4to.] 



