376 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



mixture of dull red, bright yellow, and greenish or brownish, the brownish 

 prevailing on the back, the yellowish more restricted to throat, breast and 

 rump and mixed with reddish. Plumage of female : wings and tail fuscous ; 

 rump yellowish ; breast, sides, back and head more or less olive greenish to 

 yellowish ; many feathers of head and back with dark or blackish centers ; 

 belly whitish ; under tail coverts fuscous, edged with whitish. Bill crossed 

 in all plumages after the birds are a month old, sometimes the lower 

 mandible passing to the right and again to the left of the upper one. Wing 

 3.45 ; culmen 0.60 ; tarsus 0.60. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern portions of Eastern North America ; breeding in the 

 Alleghany Mountains south to South Carolina, and from northern New York 

 and Maine northward; wintering sporadically and irregularly from the 

 northern portions of their range southward occasionally to the Gulf States. 



County Records. — Androscoggin ; fairly common winter visitor, (John- 

 son). Aroostook; common resident, locally and sporadically, especially 

 about the lumber camps and in the Woolastook Valley, (Knight). Cumber- 

 land; common winter migrant, (Mead); I have seen it near Portland in June 

 and August, (Knight); found on Little John's Island, Casco Bay, August 21, 

 1897, seemingly engaged in breeding duties, (Norton). Franklin; common 

 resident, (Richards). Hancock; common in winter and I have' observed it 

 on the wooded islands of the coast in May, June, July and August, (Knight). 

 Kennebec ; very rare resident, (Powers). Knox; winter, (Rackliff). Oxford; 

 breeds, I found a nest in a very high spruce tree in June, 1890, (Nash). 

 Penobscot ; irregularly abundant, I have seen the species every month in 

 the year and have seen young recently out of the nest in March, April, May, 

 July and August, (Knight). Piscataquis; common in winter, (Homer). 

 Sagadahoc ; irregularly common winter visitant, (Spinney). Somerset ; irreg- 

 ular winter visitant, (Morrell); resident, breeds beyond question (Knight). 

 Waldo; seen in May, (Knight). Washington; uncertain, some winters 

 abundant, breeds in winter (Boardman). York; migrant, (Adams). 



ECCENTRIC; ERRATIC; IRREGULARLY SPORAD- 

 IC; in these few words we may write the entire history of the 

 Crossbills. As a resident species it occurs more or less com- 

 monly in the northern and eastern portions of the State, in the 

 wilder portions of those sections within the Canadian Fauna 

 and is likely locally to appear almost anywhere in the State 

 regardless of season, though more often perhaps noticed in 

 winter outside of the breeding range. These birds usually 

 may be found about the lumber camps in winter in small flocks 

 of ten to fifteen individuals or sometimes in lesser or greater 

 numbers, even up to flocks of a hundred or more. They are 



