BARER BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 585 



indicate that this species breeds at irregular times, since the 

 eggs obtained near Milltown, Maine, by Mr. G. A. Board- 

 man,* were, as he has informed me, found in February, and 

 birds hatched thus early would probably moult their nesting 

 plumage early in summer. Mr. Maynard's specimens must 

 have been hatched at least as late as June, and probably in 

 July, else in respect to the time of moulting the first or 

 nestling plumage ffl this species is strangely anomalous, f V 



Since the above was put in type I have received from Mr. 

 Boardman farther information respecting the breeding of the 

 Crossbills, as follows: "They breed all the season, from 

 the middle of February till into May, and perhaps later." 



WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. Gurvirostra leucoptera Wil- 

 son. This species is much less frequent in its visits than the 

 preceding, it being, as Mr. Maynard has observed, much 

 more boreal, and is generally seen only in winter. Last 

 winter they were quite numerous in the eastern part of the 

 state, when, as he has stated above, Mr. Maynard observed 

 them as early as the middle of November. They remained, 

 according to the same authority, till the first of June, they 

 being observed by him in flocks during the last week of May. 

 He also informs me that he shot a male in fine breeding 

 plumage the 13th of June. In the summer of 1866 he 

 found their stomachs filled with canker worms. 



LAPLAND LONGSPUR. Oentrophanes Lapponicus Kaup. 

 This is a very rare winter visitor in the interior of the state, 

 but rather common, according to Mr. Maynard, at Ipswich, 

 where he has taken half a dozen in a day, and seen many 

 more. It associates with the Snow Bunting (Plectrophanes 

 nivalis), and is probably more or less common in winter 

 along the whole coast of the state. 



* See American Naturalist, Vol. iii, July, 1869. 



t With the above Mr. Boardman sends the following interesting notes : " The Canada 

 Jay also breeds when the snow is quite deep, usually in March, and I think again in 

 summer, as I have seen young birds in September. I have also found Raven's eggs 

 when the snow was quite deep, and have also known the young of Meryus Americanus 

 to be out by the middle of May, which is usually early. 1 ' 



AMKR. NATURALIST, VOL. III. 74 



