In Nortk-Wed Canada. 145 



comes better populated and can boast of half a dozen resident 

 oologists, its nest and eggs may become better known. Like the 

 pine and evening grosbeaks, the red crossbill and the white-wing- 

 ed crossbill sometimes visit Ontario in flocks during the winter 

 months. They fre(|uent the gardens in the outskirts of the 

 towns, and are shot by boys with catapults. Some years ago 

 a pair of red crossbills bred at Kew Gardens, three miles east 

 of Toronto. The nest and eggs were taken early in April, 

 1884. This species is known to breed in the United States, 

 in Minnesota, Northern New England, and from thence north- 

 ward throughout Canada. Its nest and eggs have also been 

 taken in the Lower Hudson Valley and in Pennsylvania. The 

 eggs are laid while the snow is on the ground in March. The 

 white-winged crossbill is a summer resident near Shoal Lake, 

 Lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba. A set of four eggs in ni}^ col- 

 lection doubtless belongs to this species. They were taken 

 near Shoal Lake, Manitoba, March 27th, 1887. The nest was 

 in a pine tree, twenty feet up, and the eggs are white, with a 

 faint greenish tinge ; they are spotted at the larger ends with 

 dark brown, and have also numerous speckles of lavender 

 grey, which almost form a zone around the butt end of the 

 eggs. The eggs of this species are like those of the European 

 and parrot crossbill in my collection, and they are not unlike 

 eggs of the European greenfinch in general appearance, but 

 are larger. The four eggs of the white-winged crossbill before 

 me average 0.78x0.55. Dr. Brewer describes a saucer-shaped 

 nest of this bird. It was made of lichens, encased in spruce 

 twigs, lined with hair and bark shreds, four inches in diameter, 

 with a cavity an inch and a half deep. The eggs were pale 

 blue, spotted at the large end with fine dots of black and ashy 

 lilac. This nest was taken in New Brunswick. 



The white-winged crossbill has on several occasions been 

 obtained in Great Britain. Mr. Hastings enumerates several 

 instances in which they were observed. On one occasion " a 

 large flock " made its appearance near Banff, Scotland, in 

 1859. He also says, " Some years ago Dr. Dewar, of Glasgow, 

 when six hundred miles off" Newfoundland, observed a number 

 J 



