176 Townsend, Birds of Cape Breton Island. [April 



nearly divides the great rocky mass into two parts, the sea lying 

 close at hand on the east. This is a favorite resort for Ravens, and 

 one can look down on the great birds showing glossy and purplish 

 in the sunlight as they sail from one side of the ravine to the other. 

 A couple of these birds sailed over this ravine, one close above the 

 other, and as I watched them with my glasses, the lower bird turned 

 completely on its back and both birds grappled for an instant in 

 mid air. Later at Ingonish I saw a similar performance, but in 

 this case the upper bird dropped its feet first, and the lower at once 

 turned over to grapple with it. 



At French River one morning I watched four Ravens performing 

 some interesting evolutions about the cliffs. Each in turn or to- 

 gether would fly up almost vertically against the wind, and then 

 swooping or darting down turned at times a complete somersault. 

 That evening four Ravens, possibly the same birds, flew by hoarsely 

 croaking and sailed off to the woods beyond the river. 



Loxia curvirostra minor. American Crossbill. Loxia leucop- 

 tera. White-winged Crossbill. — Both species of Crossbills 

 were abundant everywhere in the island, owing probably to the 

 abundance of food, for the black and the white spruces, particu- 

 larly the latter, and the balsam firs, were loaded with cones. The 

 natives said it was an unusually abundant crop. 



The American Crossbill sang but rarely and then with but little 

 enthusiasm, but the white-winged species was everywhere in full 

 song. One of these I shot and found the testes as large as peas. 

 This and the singing certainly suggested breeding. I saw no 

 fledglings and had no time to look for nests. The great variation 

 in the time of breeding of Crossbills is well known, but it is certainly 

 strange to think of these birds breeding in late August and early 

 September. 1 



Ora W. Knight 2 in speaking of the American Crossbills seen 

 at Jackman, Maine, from August 16-23, 1895, remarks: "What 

 is very odd is the fact that I observed a number of the birds flying 

 about in pairs. These were probably still nesting. Some of the 

 Crossbills probably nest much later than is generally supposed." 



1 Note. — Mr. Brewster tells me that he once found evidence of Crossbills breeding 

 at Lake Umbagog in September. 

 a Auk, Vol. XII, 1895, p. 391. 



