170 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
Maynard speaks of their eating the tops of oats in autumn, at 
Albany, Maine.42 They are said to build their nests often in 
February or March, and therefore their presence in summer 
may not properly indicate the districts in which they breed, 
though such immature specimens were obtained by Mr. Horace 
Mann, at Weston, Massachusetts, in May, 1862, that Mr. 
Allen thinks it ‘hardly possible” that they were born far 
from that place.44 The nest of the Crossbills has been found 
at Milltown, Maine, by Mr. Boardman,*? and these birds may, 
therefore, breed quite extensively in that State and North-east- 
ern New Hampshire, having been ‘“‘common at Umbagog, 
according to Mr. Deane, during the summer of 1870,” and 
according to Mr. Brewster, being “‘ very common at Franconia 
in summer.”* Their habitat in the breeding-season, may be 
generally considered as the vast hemlock and spruce-forests of 
the North. 
(d). As Wilson says, they ‘“‘have a loud, sharp, and not 
unmusical note” and ‘“‘ chatter as they fly.” They sometimes 
utter in spring quite a sweet song, which has the character of 
their ordinary cries, as is noticeable in the music of the birds 
nearly related to them, the Pine Grosbeaks, ‘‘ Red-polls,” Gold- 
finches, etc. 
(B) LevcorTerRA. White-winged Crossbill. 
(Much less common in Massachusetts than even the preced- 
ing species.) 
(a). Mandibles crossed (as in A). About six inches long. 
Essentially like rupra, but with white wing-bars, and a much 
rosier hue in the male. 
(b). An egg described by Dr. Brewer “is pale blue, the 
large end rather thickly spattered with fine dots of black and 
43 “The Naturalist’s Guide,” p. 111. 
44‘“Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of Massachusetts,” in pamphlet [pp. 30, 
31, 32], and in “ American Naturalist” Vol. III, pp. 505-519; 568-585; 631-648; and 
numbers for Nov., Dec., and Jan., 1869-70. 
45 C. J. Maynard, ‘“‘A Catalogue of the birds of Coos Co., N. H., and Oxford Co., 
Me.,” etc., 54th species, p. 16, pamphlet. 
