68 BIRD-KEEPER'S MANUAL. 



LOCATION. Found throughout the Northern 

 and Middle States, in winter. Breeds farther 

 north. Found, also, in Northern Europe. 



COMMON CROSSBILL. 



This remarkable bird being once seen, the 

 most superficial observer can never afterwards 

 be mistaken, as to the genus to which it belongs. 

 The upper and lower mandibles of the bill cross 

 one another about one-third from the tip. Show- 

 ing a preserved specimen of this bird to an honest 

 Hibernian one day, after examining it all over, 

 and trying to straighten the bill, he exclaimed, 

 " Sure that bird must have died of a lock-jaw." 

 He is a visitant from the north, like the former, 

 and, although a smaller bird, he probably does as 

 much execution among the pine cones, with his 

 powerful lever bill, as the other. He is equally 

 unsuspicious, and you may walk close up, and 

 look at him at work, clinging to the cones like a 

 Parrot, or Woodpecker, sometimes head up, and 

 sometimes down, but, like the other, giving evi- 

 dence of his work by the husks which are flying 

 around him. In a cage they are very amusing 



