THE AMERICAN CROSSBILL. 



grown young- in flocks. No red males were seen, tliougii many gray males 

 were singing in the early mornings from the topmost spray of some balsam. 

 In the writer's opinion the red plumage in the male is acquired at the 

 first moult or immediately after the juvenal dress, and is usually only retained 

 for one season; in some males a duller red dress is carried through the second 

 summer, or more rarely a salmon-pink one ; but in niost cases the dress of the 

 second summer is a gray one like the females, w-ith yellow head and rump. 

 Females may sometimes be seen with decidedly red heads and rumps, — from 

 the size and shape of the bill these seem to be very old birds. The above 

 remarks as to the red dress in the male apply also, in the writer's experience, 

 to the genera Lo.via. Carpoilaciis and Acaiitliis. 



Allan Brooks. 



No. 25. 



AMERICAN CROSSBILL. 



A. O. U. No. 521. Loxia curvirostra minor (Brehm.^. 



Synonym. — Red Crossbill. 



Description. — Adult male: Tips of mandibles crossed either way ; plumage 

 red, brightest on rump ; feathers of back with brownish centers ; wings and tail 

 fuscous. Shade of red very variable, — orange, cinnabar, even vermilion, some- 

 times toned down by a saiTron suffusioiL Iiii mat lire males sometimes present a 

 curiously mottled appearance with chrome-green and red intermingled. Female 

 and young: Dull olive-green, brighter and more yellow on head and rump; 

 below gray overcast by dingy yellow. Adult male, length 5.50-6.25 ( 139.7- 

 158.8) ; wings 3.40 (86.4) ; tail 2.05 (52.1) ; bill .70 ( 17.8) or under. 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size; crossed mandibles; male red and female 

 olive-green ; l)Oth without white wing-bars. 



"Nest: in forks or among twigs of tree, founded on a mass of twigs and 

 bark-strips, the inside felted of finer materials, including small twigs, rootlets, 

 grasses, hair, feathers, etc. Eggs: 3-4, 0.75 x 0.57, pale greenish, spotted and 

 dotted about larger end with dark purplish brown, with lavender shell-markings" 

 (Coues). Av. size, .85 X .53 (2l6 X 13.5) (Brewer). i'ffl'J'o/i.' erratic, Feb. -Oct. ; 

 one brood. 



General Range. — Northern North America, resident sparingly south in the 

 eastern United States to Maryland and Tennessee, and in the Alleghanies, irregu- 

 larly abundant in winter. Of irregidar distribution thruout the coniferous forests 

 of the West, save in southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico, where 

 replaced by L. c. stricldaiidi. 



Range in Washington. — Found thruout the coniferous forests of the State; 

 of irregular occurrence locally. Non-migratory but nomadic. 



Authorities. — Curvirostra amcricana Wils. Baird, Reo. Pac. R. R. Surv. 

 IX. pt. II. 1858, 426 part, 427. T. C&S. L'. D'. Ra. D-\ J. 15. E. 



Specimens. — U. of W. Prov. E. B. 



