274 Peabody, Crossbills of Northeastern Wyoming. [juiv 



nearer to the point of my stroke — while the mother fell at my feet. 

 Repeatedly did I see the father of these young, that same morning,, 

 at his task of double parenthood. His round of pasturing seemed 

 very narrow, being confined, in the main, to the few small pines 

 about my residence. 



Two days later I secured two of the young crossbills. Of these 

 two, one, the female, had both mandibles as yet absolutely straight; 

 while her brother had a slight crossing of the mandibles at the tips. 



Actions of the parent crossbills, repeatedly studied at this time, 

 revealed somewhat of mode and habit. By light of this added 

 knowledge one learned to catch the meaning of acts previously 

 meaningless. Thenceforward it became possible to watch not a 

 few family parties at their feeding ; and also to measure the purpose 

 of flights previously without apparent meaning. It thus became 

 plain that the parent crossbills would alternate in making long 

 excursions after pine seeds for the young ; the latter remaining, the 

 while, in the manner of so many fledged birds, motionless, but in 

 no sense silent, in the very spot where the departing parent had 

 left them. 



The note of the young crossbills, that characteristic note whereby 

 all fledglings direct their homing parents to the hungry throats that 

 await them, is unlike any other utterance of the kind. It is a clear, 

 mellow, cheery, yet rather querulous, utterance. Its ordinary form 

 is a monosyllabic peet; or a dissyllabic peetiv; which, iterated 

 about once a second, in irregular groups, may become, under 

 stress of unusual eagerness, a resounding pee-tiv-tiv. This call, 

 in varying forms and intensities, may be heard all the summer long,, 

 where the crossbill families are found; being heard, at times, 

 even when the family is on the wing ; and even, as I am quite sure, 

 uttered by birds at least a year old. Indeed, a slight variation of 

 it finds place in the nuptial song of the male crossbills. (The 

 coherence, for long periods, of the crossbill families, is indicated 

 by the fact that female No. 2126 was shot in the act of feeding 

 No. 2125, which is manifestly a bird of the previous season.) 1 



Up to April 17, no crossbill nests were found, although minute 

 search was made in all neighboring bull-pine areas affected by the 



1 See next footnote. 



