BENDIRE'S CROSSBILL 517 



Behavior. — The erratic behavior of crossbills is too well known to 

 be enlarged upon here. They are abundant in a locality one season, 

 rare the next, then entirely absent for a season. They are most 

 unreliable. 



Leslie L. Haskin, of Brownsville, Oreg., has sent me the following 

 note: "During the abundant years they are usually hard to observe, 

 as they keep in the tops of the high trees. At times, however, they 

 come down about buildings and camps in a most familiar way. About 

 old camping places on the trail they would gather by hundreds and 

 thousands, apparently attracted by something that they found in the 

 ashes. One of the cabins at the deserted Paywell Mine had become 

 a death trap for the crossbills. The windows of the cabin were still 

 intact. The birds entered through a partially closed door, but seemed 

 unable to find their way out. On a bench below one window, where 

 they had struggled to escape, they lay, literally in heaps, both freshly 

 killed birds and others that were merely dried wings and skeletons." 



Voice. — J. W. Preston (1910) writes: "The song is a series of clear, 

 loud, sparrow-like notes, and pretty whistling effects which come 

 riffling down from some pinnacle of a great tall pine tree. An occa- 

 sional note resembles a quick, clear passage in the song of the rock 

 wren — a rich, clear, single whistle-note. Another resembles a rich 

 portion of the Baltimore Oriole's song. But the common note of the 

 Crossbill is an energetic, strong, metallic *peet-peet' which is uttered 

 on all occasions, and one seldom sees a Crossbill without also hearing 

 this note. A male bird will gather a flock about him by means of 

 this call. Another effort is like the twittering of the Goldfinch. 

 Most of their movements are accompanied by the 'zeet-zeet-zeet' in 

 a sort of whizzing tone, or 'chink-chink-chink,' 'peet-peet-peet' or 

 'pit-pit-pit,' metallically. But the real singing is from the tree-tops 

 and it is a happy, cheerful song. At times the male will float about 

 overhead, singing, much as the Horned Lark does." 



Fall and winter. — The fall and wdnter wanderings of Bendire's 

 crossbill are extensive. Crossbills are notoriously nomadic. This 

 race is difficult to distinguish from the eastern bird in the field, and 

 until more eastern specimens have been coUected and identified, we 

 do not know what the eastern limits of its wanderings are. It is 

 significant that Thomas D. Burleigh (1941) has reported that a cross- 

 bfll, coUected in North Carolina, has been identified as bendirei. 



Distribution 



Range. — Yukon and Saskatchewan south to Baja California, Texas, 

 and Kansas. 



Breeding range. — Bendire's crossbill breeds, and is largely resi- 

 dent, from southern Yukon (Kluane Lake, Nisutlin River) and the 



