J^otes from JTieltj mh ^tuDp 



The Season's Flight of Crossbills 



During the past season both Red and 

 White-winged Crossbills have appeared in 

 exceptionally large numbers and have ex- 

 tended their wanderings further south 

 than usual. 



Mr. William Brewster writes that th^ 

 White-winged Crossbills first arrived at 

 Concord, Mass., on November 6, where 

 they were abundant until the 23d, when 

 he moved to Cambridge. At or near the 

 latter place small flocks were seen at inter- 

 vals during most of December, but they 

 became less frequent during the latter half 

 of the month. Of the Red Crossbills he 

 states that fifteen were seen at Cambridge 

 on November 20, and very few were re- 

 ported from there after November 15. 



From Saybrook, Conn., Judge J. N. 

 Clark writes that the first White-winged 

 Crossbills were noted on November 6, 

 when a flock of six was seen, and that from 

 the 16th — he was in attendance at the A. 

 O. U. during the interim — until after the 

 first week in December they were ob- 

 served in greater or less numbers, twenty- 

 five in one flock being counted on Novem- 

 ber 22. About December i a flock of 

 about fifty Crossbills, composed of both 

 species, in nearly equal numbers, was 

 seen, and from that date until December 

 23, when the flight seemed to be about 

 over, several flocks of Red Crossbills, with 

 occasionally a few White-wings, were ob- 

 served. 



At Fairfield, Conn., Mrs. Wright states 

 that Red Crossbills began to appear the 

 first week in October, and on November 5 

 they were joined by two of the White- 

 winged species. The numbers increased 

 throughout the month, and on December 

 25, in returning after a three weeks' ab- 

 sence, thirty-eight Crossbills were counted 

 in one flock, feeding on spruce cones that 

 the red squirrels had thrown to the ground. 

 The majority were either young or females, 

 but among them were six adult male Red 



Crossbills and five adult White-winged 

 Crossbills. 



I have received no reports of the White- 

 winged Crossbill from further south, but 

 the Red Crossbill continued its migration 

 in large numbers at least as far as the 

 vicinity of Washington. Small flocks were 



RED CROSSBILL 

 Photographed from life by J. D. Figgins, Falls Church, Va. 



observed at Englewood, N. J., where they 

 rarely occur, in November and Decem- 

 ber ; and as I write (January 8) about 

 thirty birds are actively feeding among 

 the cones of a Norway spruce in view of 

 my study window. Mr. J. D. Figgins tells 

 me that he first observed them at Falls 

 Church, Va., on December i, where they 

 were abundant until his departure from 

 the locality on the 14th, and Dr. Fisher 

 writes that Mr. James H. Gaut, of the 

 Biological Survey, saw several hundred 

 Crossbills in Virginia, a few miles from 

 Washington, in December. 



During the last great southward flight of 

 Red Crossbills, in the winter of 1888-89, I 

 observed a flock of about fifty birds at 

 Aiken, S. C, but thus far this season they 

 have not been reported to me from south 

 of Washington. Mr. H. H. Brimley writes 

 from Raleigh, N. C, that none have been 

 observed there ; and Prof. T. G. Pearson, 



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