PEATE XXVI.—=AMERICAN CROSSBILL. RED CROSSBILL. 
Loxia curvirostra minor. 
General color red; darkest on the back, and with a gray tinge on 
the belly; wings and tail dark brown, the latter forked; mandibles 
crossed at tips. Length, 6.20 inches. 
‘Trregularly migratory,” says Dr. Coues. ‘according to exigencies of weather and 
5 3 ts - to} : 
# coming southward in flocks in the Fall.”’ 
food-supply, 
Wilson writes : ‘*On first glancing at the bill of this extraordinary bird, one is apt to 
pronounce it deformed and monstrous ; but on attentively observing the use to which it is 
applied by the owner, and the dexterity with which he detaches the seeds of the pine-tree 
from the husks that enclose them, we are obliged to confess * * that no other confor- 
mation could have been so excellently adapted to the purpose. * * It has aloud, sharp 
and not unmusical note. It chatters as it flies.” 
