BIRDS OF 



In Southern Ontario the Purple Finch is most abundant 

 during the month of May. At tliis season the few wliich have 

 remained with us during the winter put on tlieir brightest 

 dress, and being joined by otliers which are daily arriving from 

 the south they make the orchards for a time quite lively with 

 their sprightly song. Their presence, however, could well be 

 dispensed with for they are observed at this time to be very 

 destructive to the buds and blossoms of fruit trees. As the 

 season advances they get generally distributed over the country 

 and are not so often seen. 



The male does not acquire the bright crimson dress till after 

 the second season. The young male in the garb of the female 

 being observed in full song has led to the belief that both sexes 

 sing alike but such is not the case. Crimson Finch would have 

 been a more appropriate name for this bird than Purple Fincli, for 

 the color is certainly more crimson than purple. 



Genus LOXIA Linn.eus. 



202. LOXIA CURVIROSTRA MINOR (Brehm). .V21. 



American Crossbill. 



Male bricky-red, wings blacl<ish, unmarked ; female brownish-olive, 

 streaked and speckled with dusky, the rump saffron. Immature males 

 mottled with greenish and greenish-yellow. Length, about 6 ; wing, 3J ; 

 tail, 2^. 



Hab. Northern North America, resident sparingly south in the 

 Eastern United States to Maryland and Tennessee, and in the Alleghanies ; 

 irregularly abundant in winter ; resident south in the Rocky Mountains to 

 Colorado. 



Nest, among the twigs of a spruce ; composed of twigs, rootlets, lichens, 

 etc., lined with hair and feathers. 



Eggs, 3 to 4 ; pale green, spotted toward the larger end with purple and 

 lilac. 



Throughout Ontario the Crossbills are very erratic in their 

 movements, sometimes appearing unexpectedly in considerable 

 numbers in sections of the country where for several succeeding 

 years they will be entirely absent. Their time of nesting is 

 also unusual, the duties of incubation being performed while 



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