99. 
€ 
FRINGILLIDA: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 349 
larger than the next, the bill thinner and more attenuate. Q and young: Though the differ- 
ences are parallel with those of L. americana, some peculiarity in tone of color usually serves 
to distinguish the two species, independently of the white wing-marks, which exist in both 
sexes at all ages. The difference is something like that between the Q 9 of Pyranga estiva 
and P. rubra, in the presence of ochrey or buffy tints, instead of clear olivaceous or yellowish. 
Upper parts fuscous, closely lied with an ochrey-olive or dingy ochre, the rump bright yellow- 
ochre. Below, the gray overlaid with ochreous, and further varied with dark gray centres of 
the feathers, tending to streaks on the flanks. The whole tone of coloration varies inter- 
minably ; the under parts and rump are sometimes bright tawny yellow, or brownish-orange. 
Some ¢ ¢ are brilliant carmine, some 9 Q pale orange, almost uniform. North Am., 
northerly ; Alaska; Greenland; casual in Europe. In winter S. in most of the U. §., in 
flocks with the next, not so common. Resident in N. New England, and along whole N. tier 
of States, probably breeding also in alpine U. S. localities to Pennsylvania and Colorado. 
Breeds in winter and early spring, nesting like that of the next species ; eggs pale blue, dotted 
chiefly at the larger end with black and lilac ; 0.80 X 0.56. 
L. curviros/tra america/na. (Lat. cwrvirostris, curve-biiled. Fig. 213.) AMERICAN RED 
Cross-BILL. Adult ¢: Red; 
wings and tail blackish, with- 
out white markings. Middle 
of back darker, more brown- 
ish-red than elsewhere, the 
feathers with dusky centres. 
In the highest feather, even, 
the red is scarcely continuous 
except on head and rump, 
where brightest; lower belly 
and crissum usually gray or 
pale. Though the shade of 
red is never rosy or carmine 
as in the last, it varies inter- 
minably. It is usually tile- 
red or cinnabar, heightening 
in some cases to vermilion, in 
others shading to brownish- 
Fig. 213.— Common Crossbill, #9, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) 
red, and often mixed not only with gray, but with olivaceous or saffron-yellowish tints. 
Orange, chrome or gamboge ¢ g are sometimes seen. Length about 6.00; wing 3.50; tail 
2.50; bill (chord of culmen) 0.67 or less, very variable ; under mandible usually weaker than 
upper. @ and young: Dull greenish-olive, much mixed with gray or dusky, brighter and 
more yellowish on head and rump; below, gray, most feathers skirted with dingy yellowish, 
overeasting most of the plumage. Very young are dusky, streaked with grayish-white, usually 
no trace of olivaceous ; below gray, streaked with dusky; bill weak. From such state as this 
the ¢ usually passes through stages resembling the 9, being found in every possible patchy 
state of mixed gray, olive and dusky-reddish ; sometimes appears to pass directly into the red 
state, and the same is doubtless the case with other species. N. Am., alpine and northerly ; 
S. in most of the U.S. in winter, on the E. side usually to Pa. and Md.; resident in Maine, 
in mountains S. to Pa., and in the Rocky and other Mts. of the West; abundant, in gentle and 
unwary but timid flocks, usually including some individuals of the other species, fluttering and 
creeping about in the foliage of coniferous trees. Nesting often in winter or early spring when 
snow still covers the ground; nest in forks or among twigs of a tree, founded on a mass of 
twigs and bark-strips, the inside felted of finer materials, including small twigs, rootlets, 
