250 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



at Magnolia I shot on two different occasions, a singing bird, and found on dis- 

 section that both were females. I noted that their songs were less complete 

 than those of the male. 



209 [521] Loxia curvirostra minor (Brehm). 

 American Crossbill; Red Crossbill. 



Irregular visitor at all seasons, generally in winter ; November to April 

 (July 12). 



This is the Crossbill that is more often seen. I have records for the 

 County for the years 1855, 1862-63, 1864, 1868-69, l8 74, 1878, 1880, 1888, 

 1896, 1 899- 1 900, 1903. The only summer record is of a bird seen by Mr. 

 Walter Faxon and myself on July 12th, 1903, flying over the Ipswich dunes. 

 On November 22d, 1903, I found a flock of a dozen in one of the groves of 

 pitch pines in the Ipswich dunes. 



210 [522] Loxia leucoptera Gmel. 

 White-winged Crossbill. 



Irregular but at times common winter visitor; November 20 to April. 



Nuttall 1 says: "About two years since [1830] they were seen in large, 

 gregarious, famished flocks, near Newburyport, and other neighboring towns in 

 the vicinity of the sea-coast." Putnam 2 records that they were very abundant 

 in December and January, 1854 and 1855. Maynard 3 in the Naturalist's Guide, 



says it was "common during the winter of 1868-69 December 3d it was 



found at Ipswich, Massachusetts, where it feeds upon the seeds of the beach- 

 grass It remained until late in April." It also occurred in 1881-82, and in 



1889-90. 



In 1 899- 1900 it was very common throughout the County, and I found it 

 especially so among the Ipswich dunes. Here, as Mr. Maynard had observed 

 thirty-one years before, it fed on the seeds of the beach-grass. The birds were 

 generally rather wild, but in the pine thickets they allowed a close approach. 



1 Thomas Nuttall : A Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada, vol. I, p. 

 540, 1832. 



2 F. W. Putnam : Proc. Essex Inst., vol. I, p. 212, 1856. 

 3 C. J. Maynard: The Naturalist's Guide, p. Ill, 1870. 



