34 



in winter in Belgium, England, Bavaria, &c. But 

 little appears to be known of its liabits. It is 

 occasionally taken in Scandinavia, and is not 

 unfrequently seen in central Sweden among the 

 Crossbills ; but it has a different call note and a 

 different song. 



CROSSBILL. 

 AMERICAN WHITE-WINGED. 



LOXIA LEUCOPTERA, Gmelin. 



This little bird is more diminutive than a Spar- 

 row. Its beak is small and very much compressed, 

 the points slender and elongated. The plumage 

 of the adult males is of a brilliant crimson, and 

 the tail, which is greatly forked, black, the feathers 

 having little or no bordering. 



This species appears to be rather numerous in 

 North America, frequenting the pine swamps and 

 forests, and feeding almost exclusively on the 

 seeds of these trees, together with a few berries. 

 Its nest, which it builds on the limb of a pine, 

 towards the centre, is composed of grasses and 

 earth lined with feathers. The female lays five 

 eggs with a white ground spotted with yellow. 

 Only one or two White-winged Crossbills, which 

 have been recognized as belonging to this parti- 

 cular species, have been taken in England. 



