378 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



and draw out the seed. These were shelled and the wings and 

 husk thrown downward, while the sweet kernels were swallowed. 

 One way I could locate this flock always, though while feeding 

 they were very quiet and inconspicuous, was by walking 

 around until the winglike appendages of the coniferous seeds 

 were discovered floating downwards through the air. These 

 birds remained on the campus from late winter until June and 

 did not nest, nor did specimens which were taken show any 

 physical ability to breed. 



In the gravelly yards and streets of the quieter sections of 

 Bangor I have often seen the Crossbills in June, on the ground 

 picking up seeds of the elm and maple, and also eating small 

 beetles, ants and other insects which passed across the gravelled 

 stretches. Considerable gravel is also eaten to help in grinding 

 the food. In July, 1906, while collecting some willows along 

 the Penobscot at Bangor, I was puzzled to hear a peculiar snap- 

 ping sound from the willow bushes I was studying. On looking 

 carefully I observed several Crossbills engaged in eating larvae 

 of Vanessa antiopa and the small green lice which were numerous. 

 I have also seen them engaged in picking apart the cottony 

 colonies of lice which are always found in bunches of alders 

 in late summer, and most certainly eating something they took 

 from the cottony bunches. 



Lumbermen have told me of instances where the Crossbills 

 were seen feeding on the material left in salt pork barrels 

 thrown outside of the camps. On a pinch I have known them 

 to eat the buds of elm, maple, birch, poplar and willow. The 

 seeds of the hackmatack, birch, alder, pine, fir, spruce and 

 hemlock are probably their chief and staple articles of diet. 

 They climb about the branches of the trees, using their feet 

 and bills to help them along, now hanging head downward, 

 now sidewise, now hovering before something they wish to 

 inspect. 



The nesting season seems variable, open to great latitude of 

 duration and likely there are some seasons when a flock does not 



