480 XOliTlI AMElilCAX lilUDS. 



iil>])er e<l.i;e of the ear-tov rts, tlu? otlitT iiloiij^' the lower edi^^e. The lining' 

 of the wing is without any red tinge, seen in all sjjeeiniens of the true 

 amrrintna and mr.rinina ; the wings and tail are pure sepia-brown, (|uite dif- 

 ferent from the others; and the feathei's show no red margins. The lower 

 mandihle is verv mueh eurved. (Mav not this be like some Sil)erian stvle 



Xo 21,8()8, from Washington Territory, has the bill nearly as slender as in 

 C. hmoptiray but tliere is notliing else peculiar. ^ 



Haisits. The common Ked (rossbill of America is a bird of very irreg- 

 ular distril>ution, abundant in some places at certain seasons, and again rarely 

 seen for several years. It is a Northern si)ecies, found in summer ehietly 

 in the more northern portions of tlie United States, and also found through- 

 out the year in tlie Alleglianies, in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, to 

 Georgia. A ch)sely allied variety is also found in the alpine regions of Vera 

 Cruz and other departments of ^Fexico. 



Dr. Sucklev found this species (piite abundant at Puget Sound, in certain 

 seasons. This was especially so in the s])ring of 18,")4, though afterwards he 

 met with but few. He noticed a pair on tlie ground near a pool of rain-water. 

 They were very tame, and allowed a near approacli. Dr. Cooper fiumd it very 

 abundant near the coast, where it feeds, in winter, on the seeds of the black 

 spruce, retiring in summer to the mountains to breed, but returning in Sep- 

 tember. He never observed anv in the tir forests of the Coast IJange. In 

 the Sierm Xevada, latitude 39°, Dr. Cooper found these birds in considerable 

 numbers, September, 18G3, and in winter they have l)een obtained about San 

 Francisco. They seem to be most attracted to the forests of spruces, cypresses, 

 and red-woods, the cones of which are most readily broken. They occasion- 

 ally descend to the ground, in the Kocky Mountains, in search of the seeds 

 of small plants, and also ibr water. 



Mr. lUscholf obtained specimens of this species at Sitka, but it was not 

 noticed in the territory of the Yukon liiver l)y ^Ir. Dall, or any of his party, 

 and it was met with by Mr. llidgway on the East Humboldt Mountains only. 

 There they were occasionally seen among the willows and small aspens bor- 

 dering the streams. Their common note was a fine and freciuently repeated 

 chick-chuk-cliick, very different from the ]daintive notes of the C. kucoptera. 



In New En'iland thev are of somewhat irreijular occurrence, though in 

 Maine and in the northern portions of Vermont and New Ham})shire tliey 

 are more or less resident. In I^astern Massachusetts they are comparatively 

 rare, excepting that, at irregular intervals, they come in large flocks during 

 the winter. This was so to a remarkable degree in the winter of 1832, and 

 more recently in 18G2, when, Mr. Maynard states, they remained until April. 

 They were then in their summer plumage, and also in full song. In August, 

 18G8, they again became quite numerous, and had just l)efore appeared in 

 large numbers in Western Maine, doing great damage to the oats, and disap- 

 pearing as soon as these had been harvested. Mr. Maynard thinks that these 

 birds were the same with those afterwards so numerous in Massachusetts. 



