USEFITL F.IRDS 



169 



AMERICAN CROSSBILL. 



A frequent visitor from the North in the fall and during the 

 winter. More common in the timber and wooded country than in 

 open sections, though occasionally seen on some high tree in the 

 middle of a large city. Wherever observed in this latitude, they 

 are always tame and easily approached. The writer has found 

 them in July in the upper Red River Valley, feeding upon the in- 

 sect contents of poplar galls. These were probably young birds 

 and their occurrence here at that date would indicate the birds 

 breeding at no very areat distance. 



