126 FRIENDS WORTH KNOWING. 
ated” in that fashion in the beginning, with a definite inten- 
tion toward pine-cones, we may theorize upon to suit our 
tastes: but certain it is that it answers the bird’s purpose 
most admirably. The red crossbill is the more common 
of the two, but the white-winged is not greatly different. 
They fly in small flocks, often coming among the gardens, 
where their odd appearance never fails to attract attention. 
In addition to pine-seeds, they feed on the seeds and buds 
of the cedar, birch, alder, mountain-ash, Virginia creeper, 
etc., and probably add apples, haws, and berries to their 
bill of fare,as does the grossbeak. They are wonderfully 
happy creatures, fluttering in and out of the evergreens, or 
passing swiftly from one to another, working away at a 
swinging cone “teeth and toe-nail,” heads or tails up—it 
doesn’t matter—till every kernel is extracted, then with 
one quick impulse launching into the air and departing— 
perhaps for the arctic circle—before you have had time to 
bid them good-bye. 
One of the earliest and handsomest migrants from the 
frozen North is the little red-poll linnet, which is about the 
size of a stout canary. He is a dandy, changing his gay 
suit of black, brown, white, saffron, pink, red, and crimson 
several times a year, and—at least until he is three or four 
years old—never dressing twice alike. He is an exceed- 
