NORTH AMERICAN BIRDK. 357 



plete the interior. Both birds were about while the nest was being removed; the 

 male was intensely bright colored. A few days later this pair began another nest 

 under the same roof near the old site. The eggs are not distinguishable from eggs 

 of C. frontalis from California. They are sparsely marked with black in an irregular 

 wreath about the larger end. In size they measure 18.5x15 and 19x15 millimetres."* 



520. GTJADALTJPE HOUSE FINCH. Carpodacus ampins Ridgw. Geog. 

 Dist. Guadalupe Island. Lower California. 



This darker colored House Finch was found to be quite common on Guadalupe 

 Island, by Mr. Bryant, when he visited that place in 1885. The species did not differ 

 in its habits or song from frontalis. February 22 two nearly completed nests were 

 found in cypress trees, and one with five eggs was taken March 1. The last nest 

 taken was on April 7, and contained five eggs with small embryos in them. Nearly 

 all the nests were placed on the branches of cypress trees; the birds seemed to 

 show a preference for the leeward side, where the nest would be protected from pre- 

 vailing winds. One pair built in a clump of mistletoe at a height of twenty feet; 

 others built in the tops of palms. The materials used were the finer dead stems of 

 weeds; in one nest the foundation and sides were made of pine needles. The lining 

 was invariably of goat's hair. The eggs, sometimes four in number, but oftener 

 five, during the early part of the season, are colored precisely like the average speci- 

 men of C. m. frontalis, the spots being either sparingly applied or entirely wanting. 

 They also resemble them in general shape, but the size serves to distinguish them. 

 Five eggs in one set measure 22x15, 22x15.5, 22.5x15.5, 23x15.5, 23x16.5 mm.f The 

 length measurement varies from 19.5x24 mm., and the width 15x16.5 mm. The 

 average size of thirty-two specimens is 21.3x15.5 mm.J 



521. AMERICAN CROSSBILL. Loxia curtirostra minor (Brehm.) Geog. 

 Dist. Northern North America, resident sparingly south in Eastern United States 

 to Maryland and Tennessee, and in the Alleghanies; irregularly abundant in winter. 

 Casual at Charleston, S. C., and New Orleans, La. 



A curious bird, whose home is in boreal regions; and at times, even during the 

 season of reproduction, straggles far southward. The American Red Crossbill is 

 known to breed in Northern New England, and from thence northward. Breeds 

 sporadically in mountainous regions south as 

 far as New York, Pennsylvania, Central 

 Maryland, Virginia, Northern Georgia, Ten- 

 nessee and Kentucky. It maybe found breed- 

 ing where least expected. The nesting time 

 is usually in February and March, while the 

 snow is yet on the ground. In the Lower 

 Hudson Valley, Mr. Eugene P. Bicknell found 

 a nest of this species on the 30th of April, con- 

 taining three eggs. The nest was placed 

 in a cedar of rather scanty foliage, about 

 eighteen feet from the ground, and was with- 

 out any main support, being built in a mass 

 cf small, tangled twigs. The composition ex- 

 ternally was of spruce twigs, loosely ar- 

 ranged; the main body of the structure was a 

 mass of matted shreds of cedar bark, while 



521. CROSSBILL. 

 * .74x.59, .75x59 inches, 

 t .87x.59, .87X.61, .89x.61. .91x.61, .91X.65. 

 J .77 to .95 in length by .59 to .65 in breadth; average .84x.61. 



