110 LOXIA LEUCOPTERA, WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 



throiigb the woods occasionally, and alighting on dead limbs and tree 

 t.)ps, where their bright colors and noisy chatter are sure to attnict the 

 attention of passers-by. They are not at all shy, and sometimes iilight 

 in trees in the midst of large towns. Their food is the same as the Pine 

 Grosbeak's — the seeds of pines, birches, &c. ; and as they sometimes 

 alight in the thickets of rose-bushes, raspberries and other shrubbery, 

 they probably add haws and berries to their bill of fare. In June I 

 have lieard it sing very agreeably ; its notes are much like those of the 

 Pine Grosbeak, and show the family resemblance which runs through 

 the songs of all the members of this group of the FringilUda'. Among 

 a series of specimens, some will be found having much larger bills than 

 others, showing an api)roach to var. mexlcana. A male, taken in Bergen 

 Park, had the bill 0.78 in length. 



The eggs of this si)ecies are four or five in number, about 0.S5 by 0.52 

 in size, very pale greenish, variously marked in dots and blotches, with 

 different sliades of lilac and purplish brown. Dr. Brewer notes a nest 

 taken in Vermont, early in March, when the ground was covered with 

 snow", from the upper branch of a leafless elm. "The birds were very 

 tame and iearless, refusing to leave their eggs, and had to be several 

 times taken off by hand." Even after the nest had been taken in hand 

 the bird resumed its place upon it. 



LOXIA LEUCOPTERA, Gm. 



White-winged Crossbill. 



Loxia leucoptera, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 844.— Bp., Syn. 1828, 117.— Bp., Am. Orn. ii, 

 — .— Sw. & Rich., F. B A. ii, 1831, 263.— Nutt., Man. i, 1832, 540.— Aud., Orn. 

 Biog. iv, 1838, 467, pi. 364 ; Syu. 1839, 129 ; B. Am. iii, 1841, 190, pi. 2U1.— Gin., 

 B. L. L 1844, 131.— Bp., Consp. Av. i, 1850, 527.— Reinh., Ibis, iii, 1861, 8 

 (Greenland). — Gould, B. Gr. Brit, v, 1864, pi. — (England). — Lawk., Ann. Lvc. 

 N. Y. viii, 1866, 288.— Finsch, Abb. Nat. iii, 1872, 55 (Alaska).— B. B. & R.,'N. 

 A. B. i, 1874, 488, pi. 23, f. 2, 3. 



CurvirosUa Umcophra , Wils., Am. Orn. iv, 1811, 48, pi. 31, f. 3.— Bi>., B. N. A. 1858, 427.— 

 WniiAT., Ohio Agric. Rep. I860, — . — Hayd., Rep. 1862, 165. — Allen, Pr. Ess. 

 Inst, iv, 1864, 70. — Boahdm., Pr. Bost. Soc. ix, 1862, 126 (Calais, Me., breeding 

 in winter).— McIlwk., Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 1866, 88.— Coues, Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 1868, 

 281.— TuKNB., B. E. Pa. 1869, 22.— Dall & Bann., Tr. Cbic. Acad, i, 1«69, 281.— 

 Stev., U. S. Geol. Snrv. Ter. 1870, 464.— Mavn., Nat. Gnide, 1870, 111.— Mayn., 

 Pr. Bost. Soc. xiv, 1871, — . — Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 149 (not in California). — 

 Coues, Key. 1872, 129, fig. 76. 



Loxia falcirosira, Lath., Ind. Orn. i, 1790, 371. 



Cfutlroblva leucopttra, Breiim, Naum. i, 1853, 254, f. 20. 



Hub. — Northern North America, from ocean to ocean. South in winter into the 

 United States, as far west as the Rocky Mountains (no United States Pacific coast 

 record). Resident in Northern New England ; breeding in winter, aud, according to 

 Aududou, breeding iu Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Wyoming in summer. South 

 ^u'dinarily to Philadelphia. Greenland, one instance. Accidental in Europe. (See 

 Hahtixu, Mau. Brit. Birds, 1872, 116.) 



Lieiiteiiaut Warren's Expedition. — 8964-65, Laramie Peak, August 25, 1857. 

 Later Expeditions. — 60639, Box Elder Creek, Wyoming, August 21, 1870. 



Dr. Hayden's specimens are of unusual interest. They nftbrd the only 

 record I have been able to find of the occurrence of the species iu the 

 United States west of the Mississippi ; while the dates of collection — 

 June, August — render it unquestionable that the birds breed where they 

 were procured. Dr. Biewer describes a saucer-shaped nest of lichens, 



