174 PASSERES: Perching Birds 



CROSSBILL 



(521. Loxia curvirostra minor) 6 in. 



Male: Wings and tail blackish; otherwise wholly a variable red, 

 usually dull, brightest on rump; occasionally yellowish, and 

 often suffused with green. 



Female: Greenish olive, brightest on rump and below. 



Tips of bill crossed, which presumably facilitates extracting 

 from cones the seeds which form the bulk of its food. When 

 feeding hangs in any position, like a parrot. 



MEXICAN CROSSBILL 



(52 la. Loxia curvirostra Strickland!) 6| in. 



Similar to preceding, but larger, colors brighter, and bill 

 much larger. 



Habits in every way like those of the former. 



CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR 



(538. Calcarius ornatus) 5f in. 



Male: Black and white, with chestnut nape; white of cheeks 

 and throat sometimes replaced by buffy. The unique color 

 pattern is very distinctive. Black and chestnut areas obscured 

 by grayish tips in winter. 



Female: Streaked above gray-brown and black; dull grayish or 

 buffy below, usually unmarked. 



A ground-dweller, of habits closely similar to the Horned 

 Larks. 



McCOWN LONGSPUR 



(539. Rhynchophanes mccowni) 6 in. 



Male: Crown and breast crescent black; sides of head grayish, 

 throat white, a black maxillary stripe between; back gray, brown- 

 streaked; tail mostly white, black-tipped; belly white; shoulder- 

 patch chestnut. Black areas gray-tipped in winter. 



Female: Brownish upper parts, darker-streaked; buffy below. 

 An obscure bird, totally different from the strongly marked 

 male. 



