400 NUKTIl AMLKICAN lilRD.S. 



anil tame than tlie amrrira/nt, and in one instanc<; a pair were taken l»y the 

 hand, and afterwards kept in eiUiHnenient. They ajipeared around IJustnn in 

 lar^(? flocks, and remained through A}>ril. One was shot in Newton \>y Mr. 

 Maynard, June llJ. It was found in an aj»ple-tree, and its cntp was full of 

 canker-worms. In Eastern Maine it is resident throughout the year, and, 

 like the other species, hreeds in winter. In Western Maine Pnjfessor Verrill 

 has found it a common winter visitant, but it is not known to be resi- 

 dent. 



Near Springfield Mr. Allen considered this species a much less freipient 

 visitor than the preceding. In the winters of 1854r and 1800 he found them 

 very abundant, occurring in large Hocks. 



Mr. Audubon, on his way to Librador in 183i^, found these birds quite 

 connnon, in May, among the islands of the Bay of Fundy, evidently migrat- 

 ing, on their way to more northern regions. I, however, observed none there 

 during my visits in the summers of 1850 and 1851, although a specimen was 

 afterwards obtained on the Murre Islands, on the oUth of June. 



So far as they are known, the habits of this species are exactly similar to 

 those of the preceding. They feed in the same manner and upon like food. 

 Their flight is undulating and well sustained, and their movements in the 

 trees are not perceptibly different. 



In the spring of 18G9, Mr. Jillson, of Hudson, Mass., sent me a pair of 

 these birds which he had captured the preceding autunni. Tliey were very 

 tame, and w-ere exceedingly interesting little pets. Their movements in the 

 cage were like those of caged parrots in every respect, except that they 

 were far more easy and rapid. They clung to the sides and upper wires of 

 the cage with their feet, hung down from tliem, and seemed to enjoy the 

 practice of walking with their head downward. They were in full song, and 

 both the male and the female were quite good singers. Their songs were 

 irregular and varied, but sweet and musical. They ate almost every kind of 

 food, but were especially eager for slices of raw apples. An occasional larch 

 cone was also a great treat to them. Although while they lived they were 

 continually bickering over their food, yet when the female was accidentally 

 choked by a bit of eggshell her mate was inconsolable, ceased to sing, re- 

 fused his food, and died of grief in a very few days. 



The White-winged Crossbill was seen more fretjuently by ^Ir. Ridgway 

 among the East Humboldt Mountains than the other species. It was first 

 noticed on the 12th of August among the cedars on the mountains. Its fine 

 plaintive cry of " week " was entirely different from the hurriedly uttered 

 notes of the C. amcricana. 



Several specimens of this Crossbill have been taken in Europe, where 

 their occurrence is of course accidental, irregidar, and rare. 



A nest of this species (S. I., 10,452), taken at Fredericton, Xew Brunswick, 

 by Dr. A. Adams, in 18G8, is deeply saucer-shaped, and composed of a rather 

 thin wall of fibrous pale-green lichens, encased on tlie outside with spruce 



