BIRDS OF NEW YORK 265 



are found where seeds are plentiful, hopping about after the manner of 

 sparrows. In the winter I have noticed that they seem to prefer the seeds 

 of maples, ashes and mountain ash. Late in June I have found their food 

 mostly confined to the samaras or ripened fruit of the elm tree. The species 

 is more or less gregarious, and throughout the migration season in April 

 and May, as well as in winter, they are often seen in loose flocks of 6 to 

 30. While feeding, one will usually notice a rustle of wings as they dis- 

 lodge seeds from the branches and regain their balance. This sound has 

 often directed me to a flock which otherwise would have escaped my 

 attention. 



The nest of the Purple finch is usually constructed between the 5th 

 and the 2Oth of May in western New York, sometimes as late as the middle 

 of June. The fresh eggs have been found from the loth of May to the 

 1 5th of June, and sometimes as late as the loth of July. In this instance 

 I think it was a second brood. The nest resembles very much that of the 

 Chipping sparrow, consisting outwardly of small twigs, grasses and rootlets 

 thickly lined with hairs. In dimensions, however, it is conspicuously 

 larger than that of the Chipping sparrow and the inner nest not quite so 

 neatly constructed. The eggs vary from 4 to 6 in number, usually 5, in 

 my experience, greenish blue in color, spotted with blackish, brown and 

 purplish. They average .8 by .56 inches in dimensions. 



Loxia curvirostra minor (Brehm) 

 Crossbill 



Plate 77 



Crucirostra minor Brehm. Allg. deutsche Naturhist. Zeitung. 1846. 1:53* 



(note) 



Loxia americana DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 182, fig. 144 

 Loxia curvirostra minor A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 245. No. 



521 



loxia, Gr.. AO^O?, crooked; curvirostra, Lat., curve-billed; minor, smaller (that is, than 



the European crossbill) 



Description. About the size and build of the Purple finch but some- 

 what less streaky; mandibles crossed; tail rather short, forked. Adult 



