SONG-BIRDS. Crossbill 



Theodore Wood, in his instructive little book, — " Our 

 Bird Allies,"^ — devotes two chapters to an unprejudiced 

 review of the Sparrow question, which are well worth read- 

 ing, in which he quotes Prevost-Paradol and many other 

 authorities. "What wonder," he says, "if the Sparrow, 

 both in America and New Zealand, should turn from a diet 

 of insect to one of grain and fruit? Does not even man 

 himself alter his food in accordance with the climate? 

 Does he not, leaving England for a warmer country, depend 

 more upon vegetable food and less upon animal ? " 



It is not the grain that he consumes that makes us 

 at war with the Sparrow, but because he steadily puts to 

 rout our most familiar birds, destroys their young, and 

 gives us only his ugly chirp in the place of their songs, 

 and his useless presence instead of their insect-consuming 

 powers. The destruction of the Sparrows, eggs and nests, is 

 now almost universally approved in the United States. Dr. 

 C. Hart Merriam of the Department of Agriculture, Wash- 

 ington, has prepared a consensus of reports from many 

 sources, containing evidence for and against the Sparrow, 

 — 168 being for, 837 against, and 43 neutral. The report 

 also contains a list of native birds that have been more or 

 less molested by the Sparrow, among which are not only 

 the Wrens, Bluebirds, and Martins of our garden bird- 

 boxes, but the valiant Kingbird, the Horned Lark, Hermit 

 and Wood Thrushes, the Mockingbird, Purple Grackle, 

 Meadowlark, and many Woodpeckers. 



American Crossbill: Loxia curvirostra minor, 



Plate 27. 

 Length : 6 inches. 

 Male: General colour Indian red. Head shaded with olive. Back 



and shoulders brown with red edgings to the feathers ; wings 



and tail brown. Beak crossed at the tip. 

 Female : General colour greenish yellow. Dull yellowish tints on the 



head, throat, breast, and rump. Wings and tail brown with 



lighter edges to some feathers. 



1 New York, E. & J. B. Young & Co. , 

 137 



