LAND BIRDS. 471 



There has been a vast amount of dispute as to the nesting habits of the 

 Crossbills and the matter can hardly be considered settled as 3^et. It has 

 long been believed that the species nested in mid- winter, and in fact positive 

 statements to this effect, supported by fairly conclusive evidence, have been 

 published many times. Nevertheless, the birds have been found nesting 

 during the spring and summer, and birds which were evidently immature 

 have been taken at almost all seasons of the year. The truth seems to be 

 that the food, mainly seeds and buds of coniferous trees, on which they 

 depend, is available in favorable regions during almost the entire year, 

 and it is possible therefore for the birds to nest at almost any season. That 

 the greater part of them nest in late winter or very early spring seems 

 rather probable, but it is desirable that every actual instance of the Cross- 

 bill's nesting should be published with all possible details, in order that the 

 matter may be thoroughly investigated and the question definitely settled 

 as soon as possible. 



A nest with two eggs was found at Hillsdale, Mich., on the college 

 campus in February of 1893 or 1894, by Mr. G. E. Douglas. Mr. Adolph 

 Hempel, who was with Mr. Douglas at the time, states that there 

 were many crossbills on the campus that winter and that he is sure 

 of the identity and still has the nest and eggs in his possession. Both 

 Chas. L. Cass of Ann Arbor and Prof. Frank Smith of Urbana, 111., re- 

 member the circumstance and are sure there was no mistake about the facts 

 or the identification of the birds. The writer has also been informed that 

 nests of the crossbill (which species is not certain) were found in pine trees 

 on the grounds of the Northern State Normal School at Marquette, Mich., 

 by Miss Flora IMowbray and others, during late winter, but the details 

 have not been learned. 



Kumlien and Hollister state that in Wisconsin it nests irregularly in the 

 north central parts of the state and formerly as far south as Dane county. 

 Young just able to fly were procured in a cemetery at Albion, Wis., in August 

 1869 (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 92). According to Butler they were reported 

 to have nested in the vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio, in the summer of 1878, 

 and a pair is reported to have bred at Bloomington, Ind., in 1885, the nest 

 being placed in a pine tree and made exclusively of pine burrs. Mr. R. B. 

 Moffit informed Dr. Butler that they nested at West Lafayette, Ind. in 1885, 

 and that young birds were taken there (Birds of Indiana, 1897, 919-920). 

 The same authority states that Dr. H. A. Atkins is said to have taken their 

 nests near Locke, Ingham county, jNIich., July 13, 1880, but we are unable 

 to verify this statement. 



Early in 1906 Mr. Harold F. Tufts found three nests near Wolfville, 

 Kings county. Nova Scotia, two containing young just hatched, the 

 other three eggs advanced in incubation. These nests were found 

 Jan. 31, 1906, and during the following months many other nests 

 were found, most of them placed on horizontal limbs of spruces from 

 twenty to forty feet from the ground and well out from the trunk, others 

 in spruces, firs and hemlocks at elevations ranging from ten to eighty feet. 

 The birds continued nesting until May 7, at which time flocks of full fledged 

 young were to be seen feeding about the woods, while nests with eggs were 

 still to be found (Auk, XXIII, 1906, 339). 



While the ordinary call of this bird is a very sharp whistle repeated 

 rapidly three or four times, and sounding as Dr. Gibbs states, like "cleep- 

 cleep-cleep," the birds also have a very sweet warbhng song during the 



