250 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



diameter nearly four inches, and the cavity two 

 and a half inches wide, with a depth of an inch and 

 a half. 



The egg is said by the same eminent authority 

 as being slightly elongate-oval, with the small end 

 somewhat obtuse, and spattered with black and 

 ashy-lilac dots upon a pale blue ground. It 

 measures .86 by .56 of an inch. 



Curvirostra Americana, Wils. 



The Common Crossbill is an abundant autumnal 

 and winter visitant, but has never been known 

 to breed in Eastern Pennsylvania. It arrives 

 late in October or early in November. It 

 is quite gregarious, being found in flocks of twen- 

 ties or thirties. During the beginning of its stay it 

 subsists upon the berries of Juniperus Virginiana, 

 Lonicera sempervirens , and the seeds of the various 

 species of Panicum and Aira among gramina- 

 ceous plants, besides those of many of the Aster 

 and Sohdago. Among insects, CEdipoda sulphurea, 

 CE. nebulosa, the North Carolina grasshopper, 

 Scarites subterraneus, Diccelus dUatatus, Cratony- 

 chiis cinereus, C. pertinax, &c. y are eagerly de- 

 voured. During the winter it feeds almost entirely 

 upon the seeds of various species of the Coniferce, 

 Pinus inops, Abies nigra, and Pinus strobus, and 

 also Betula excelsa* 



During the spring it subsists upon the tender 

 cones of Pinus and Abies, and the blossoms of 

 Acer mbriim, A. saccharinum, besides divers dip- 



