170 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



Maynard speaks of their eating the tops of oats in autumn, at 

 Albany, Maine. 43 They are said to build their nests often in 

 February or March, and therefore their presence in summer 

 may not properly indicate the districts in which they breed, 

 though such immature specimens were obtained by Mr. Horace 

 Mann, at Weston, Massachusetts, in May, 1862, that Mr. 

 Allen thinks it "hardly possible" that they were born far 

 from that place. 44 The nest of the Crossbills has been found 

 at Milltown, Maine, by Mr. Boardman, 42 and these birds may, 

 therefore, breed quite extensively in that State and North-east- 

 ern New Hampshire, having been "common at Umbagog, 

 according to Mr. Deane, during the summer of 1870," and 

 according to Mr. Brewster, being " very common at Franconia 

 in summer." 45 Their habitat in the breeding-season, may be 

 generally considered as the vast hemlock and spruce-forests of 

 the North. 



(d). As Wilson says, they "have a loud, sharp, and not 

 unmusical note" and " chatter as they fly." They sometimes 

 utter in spring quite a sweet song, which has the character of 

 their ordinary cries, as is noticeable in the music of the birds 

 nearly related to them, the Pine Grosbeaks, "Red-polls," Gold- 

 finches, etc. 



(B) LEUCOPTERA. White-winged Crossbill. 



(Much less common in Massachusetts than even the preced- 

 ing species.) 



(a). Mandibles crossed (as in A). About six inches long. 

 Essentially like RUBRA, but with white wing-bars, and a much 

 rosier hue in the male. 



(&). An egg described by Dr. Brewer "is pale blue, the 

 large end rather thickly spattered with fine dots of black and 



*s The Naturalist's Guide," p. 111. 



44 "Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of Massachusetts," in pamphlet [pp. 30, 

 31, 82], and in "American Naturalist" Vol. Ill, pp. 505-519; 568-585; 631-648; and 

 numbers for Nov., Dec., and Jan., 1869-70. 



43 C. J. Maynard, "A Catalogue of the birds of Coos Co., N. H., and Oxford Co., 

 Me.," etc., 54th species, p. 16, pamphlet. 



