920 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



clusively of pine burrs. Mr. E. B. Moffit informs me they nested at 

 West Lafayette, in 1885, and that young birds were taken there. 



Dr. H. A. Atkins is said to have taken their nests near Locke, Mich., 

 July 13, 1880. They are said to nest early, often in February, while 

 the snow still covers the earth, but they have been found nesting until 

 into July. 



They feed principally upon the seeds of conifers, which they extract 

 from the cones. The crackling of these burrs was what first called my 

 attention to the Crossbills. They uttered no note, but busily tore off 

 the plates and picked out the seeds. The sound resembled the crack- 

 ling noise made by the opening of the cone left on the tree under the 

 warping influence of a warm spring sun. They sought their food both 

 upon the tree and upon the ground beneath it. They were very tame, 

 permitting me to approach quite close to them, apparently unnoticed. 

 When they took wing, they uttered a note which Mr. Otto Widmann 

 has compared to the "parent call of Progne" our Purple Martin. Mr. 

 Widmann informs me that they were attracted to the vicinity of Old 

 Orchard, Mo., partially by the abundance of apples left on the trees 

 the winter of 1891-2. These, I presume, formed part of their food. 

 They also eat elm buds in May. They also eat the seeds of horse- 

 weeds. Mr. Jesse Earlle found a male in breeding plumage and four 

 other Crossbills in dull plumage apparently probing the mud about 

 the borders of a mill pond near Greencastle, July 27, 1891. The 

 specimen first mentioned he shot. But a small proportion of the birds 

 seen as they move about in flocks of varying size are males. Mr. 

 Nehrling says its song consists of a number of loud, flute-like notes 

 which are frequently intermingled with several harsh chattering tones 

 (N. A. B., p. 41). (See Butler. The range of the Crossbill in the Ohio 

 Valley, with notes, on the unusual occurrence in summer. Papers 

 read at the World's Congress of Ornithology in Chicago, 1893-1896, 

 pp. 47 58, and Proc. Indiana Acad. Sci., 1892, pp. 63-72.) 



200. (522). Loxia leucoptera GMEL. 



White-winged Crossbill. 



Wings in both sexes, with two conspicuous white bars; bill, crossed. 

 Male. Eosy-red. Female. Brownish-olive, streaked with dusky, the 

 rump saffron. Immature Males. Mottled as in last species. 



Length, 6.00-6.50; wing, 3.50; tail, 2.60. 



RANGE. Northern North America, south in winter to northern 

 Indiana and Pennsylvania, rarely to Kansas, southern Ohio and Vir- 

 ginia. Breeds from northern New England and northern Rocky 

 Mountains north. 



