440 General Notes. [£j! t k 



and I watched them for some time feeding on the pine cones. Never 

 having seen the bird in life before, I had some trouble in making out what 

 they were, but at last decided that they were Crossbills. After that I 

 often saw them, and in fact they became quite common, and remained 

 here until the middle of May. I only killed one (an old male) and now 

 have the skin in my collection. Whenever seen they were invariably in 

 the pine trees and never still long at a time. — I. F. Arnow, St. Marys, Ga. 



Nesting of Crossbills in Colorado. — The paper by Rev. P. B. Peabody 

 in the July number of 'The Auk,' on the nesting of the Bendire Crossbill 

 in Wyoming led me to look through the notes of Denis Gale, who spent the 

 years from 1883 to 1893 inclusive in the mountains of Boulder County 

 closely observing our mountain birds. These notes are now owned by 

 the University of Colorado, and have been transcribed, annotated and 

 indexed for convenient reference, forming 278 pages, exclusive of index. 

 I find few references to Crossbills, and only in 1893 are there definite notes 

 of their nesting habits, though under date May 21, 1890, he does say that 

 he saw that day a family of these birds with "young fully grown nearly." 

 All of his references are to the American Crossbill, but doubtless those he 

 saw were Loxia curvirostra bendirei, a subspecies likely unknown to him. 

 He was well along in years at that time, and had learned his ornithology 

 at a much earlier period. I extract the following from his notes: 



"March 28, [1893] 172 [= Smithsonian Check List No., Bull. 21, U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., 1881]. In this locality saw crossbills to all appearances looking 

 for exact site or having already begun to build, but not in earnest, as I 

 watched them a long time without results." 



"March 31. 172. The pair of crossbills noted on the 28th inst. were 

 evidently resting from their labors, having completed their nest building. 

 Now I come to think of it their demeanor said as much. I regret not 

 witnessing the building operation which I believe was wholly undertaken 

 by the female. Locality, a sheltered hillside east of Buckhorn Mountain, 

 on north side of clump of scattered coniferous trees, in pine tree about IS 

 feet from the ground, saddled on horizontal branch 5 feet from main stem 

 and 4 feet from end of branch, the nest shielded on the weather side by 

 part of another branch from below, and yet immediately underneath the 

 nest could be easily seen, although the site would be easily overlooked, 

 if indeed it would be examined at all, it being in a general way the least 

 likely tree to be selected for nesting, a number of others more sheltered 

 and offering better hiding being at hand. Upon approaching the belt of 

 scattered timber I stood several minutes looking to the center of further 

 eds^e to see if I could discover the bird carrying building material, in which 

 direction I had supposed the nest site selected from the manner of the birds 

 I had previously watched, instead of which I was within a few feet of the 

 tree the nest was located in. The male suddenly lit upon the top of a tree. 

 At a greater distance no doubt he had seen my intrusion and become 

 alarmed. I saw at once by his anxious manner that he was to be watched, 



