LOXIA LEUCOPTERA : WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 219 



markable habit is that of breeding in zuintcr, or very 

 early in the spring, when one would think it impossi- 

 ble that the callow young could endure the rigors of 

 the season. They are most devoted parents, seeming 

 entirely insensible of danger in the defence of their 

 homes ; and at all times, indeed, betray a confidence 

 in man that is too often misplaced, and that seems the 

 height of folly to one who knows as much of human 



Fig 55. — White winged Crossbill. (Reduced.) 



nature as most people find out, sooner or later, to their 

 cost. The birds are much attached to pine woods, the 

 seeds of the conifers furnishing them abundant food, 

 of a kind that their curiously shaped bills enable them 

 to secure with great ease and address. From their 

 summer resorts in the depth of evergreen woods the 

 Crossbills come flocking in the fall to all other parts of 

 New England and beyond, generally associated with 

 the other species, or with Pine Grosbeaks and Red- 

 polls, always gentle, unsuspicious, and apparently 

 quite at their ease. They are not so common, how- 



