THE YODNG OOLOGIST. 



Vol. n. No. J. 



ALBION, N. Y., JUNE, 188.5. 



\ Published Monthly 

 ) " $i.oo Pek Year. 



American or Red Crossbill. 



This peculiar bird is very seldom seen in 

 this latitude, 41° N., except during very 

 severe winters. We were favored with 

 quite a number last spring, and as they are 

 rare in these parts, having not been seen 

 during the last fifteen or twenty years, I 

 paid particular attention to them while they 

 remained in the neighborhood. I saw them 

 first on the 22d of February, 1884, Seeing { 

 that they were a strange bird to me, I shot I 

 several and gave them a careful examina- 1 

 tion. The birds vary, according to their 

 age, in plumage. The males, from the { 

 deep scarlet of a male Scarlet Tanager, to i 

 a light bronze ; the females, from a slate 

 color on the breast and neck, to an almost 

 bright yellow on the bacii. They have a 

 very peculiar cry, which is very much sim- 

 ilar to that of the Pine Grosbeak. There I 

 are several characteristic features about j 

 this bird that may be of interest to some. 

 They crawl about like the Parrot, using 

 their bill like that bird. They are. I found 

 out, capable of inflicting a severe wound 

 with their bill, which is very sharp and 

 strong. They are very gentle, and if ap- 

 proached, will permit you to get very close 

 to them. I have been within three or four 

 feet of about a dozen, while they were feed- 

 ing on the cones of the fir and spruce, the 

 seeds of which seem to be their chief food. 

 I even took a thin stick and toucktui one, 

 and it did not fly away, but continued to 

 work away at the cone it was on I I took 

 my trout rod with me one day, and also a 

 piece of thread, thinking that I might, per- 

 haps, snare a pair of them. I found them 

 at their usual place among the evergreens 

 of the cemetery. Quite a number were on 

 the ground, hopping about. They seemed 

 quite unconscious of my approach. I 

 jointed my rod and made a running noose, 

 and in a very short time had one. The 



cries of the captured bird somewhat 

 alarmed the others, but in a short time all 

 were as hard at work again as they could 

 be. I caught nine in this way. I fed them 

 on mixed bird seeds, which they seemed to 

 be very fond of. They got so fat that they 

 all died, after keeping them about five 

 months. I noticed that several had pin 

 feathers. I also mw an old female /eerf one. 

 This, I suppose, was a young one, as I un- 

 derstand they breed early in .January The 

 last that I .saw of them was on the third of 

 .July. There is an old legend connected 

 with this bird I am told, which is still be- 

 lieved in some parts of Germany : It is 

 said that when Christ was nailed to the 

 cross, that one of these binls, which then 

 had straight bills, tried to draw the nails 

 out, and in doing so, bent its bill. It was, 

 on account of this, ever after, to be called 

 th'- Crossbill. 



E. T. Mack. 



Xazarelh, Pa. 



Audubon's Birds of America 



We take pleasure in making the announce- 

 ment that the entire remainder of the mag- 

 nificent plates to Audubon's world-famous 

 " Birds of America" have recently come 

 into the possession of a Boston firm. As 

 enough of the plates are missing to make it 

 impossible to make them up tnto complete 

 sets, they have determined to sell them 

 separately. ^Heretofore these beautiful por- 

 traits of our native birds, have been sold 

 only in complete sets and necessarily at a 

 high price. There are undoubtedly many 

 persons in every portion of the country 

 who, knowing these masterpieces of art at 

 least by reputation, even if they have not 

 had the good fortune to be able to examin e 

 them, would gladly avail theiuselves of an 

 opportunity to procure one or more for 

 I the purpose of framing, could theyl.e pur- 



