BiCKNELL on the Nesting of the Red Crossbill. 7 



loving species as the Bay-breasted, Cape May, Blackburnian, and 

 Blue Yellow-backed Warblers, the Red-bellied Nuthatch, the Golden- 

 crested Kinglet, and many others, consorting with Winter Wrens, 

 Water Thrushes, and Canada Flycatchers in the thickets by wood- 

 paths, or along the banks of ponds or rivers ; and I know of no 

 more interesting sight, especially if it be a bright September morn- 

 ing, before the sun has risen above the trees. The dai'k foliage 

 of the alders and viburnums is frosted with innumerable dew- 

 drops, which fall in sparkling showers where a Warbler hops or 

 a Woodpecker taps on the slender stems. Yellow and gold and 

 scai-let liveries flash among the glossy leaves, as the active little 

 forms appear and disappear, while the constant rustling and low- 

 toned conversational chirping from the depths of the thicket suggest 

 all sorts of pleasing mysteries. It is a pretty picture, this gath- 

 ering of the birds in the quiet depths of the forest, with the tall 

 spires of sentinel-like firs and spruces keeping guard against the 

 sky, and the incessant rasping of the wood-borers, — Nature's time- 

 keepers, — counting the hours of the crumbling trunks around. 



REMARKS ON THE NIDIFICATION OF LOXIA CURVI- 

 ROSTRA AMERICANA, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF ITS 

 NEST AND EGGS. 



BY EUGENE P. BICKXELL. 



Amoxg those of our abundant birds whose nidification remains 

 very unsatisfactorily known, the Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra 

 americana) occupies no inconspicuous position. True, the nesting of 

 the very intimately allied European form (curvirostra) is pretty 

 thoroughl}^ understood, but, so far as I can now recall, there is but 

 a single authentic descriptive record of the nest and eggs of americana 

 having been discovered. In view of these facts it is with much 

 pleasure that I find myself able to describe the nest and eggs of this 

 species taken in the Lower Hudson Valley ; theoretically one of the 

 most unlikely places to be chosen as a breeding station in the State, 

 and well illustrating the uncertain and erratic disposition of the 

 species in question. 



The winter of 1874-75 will be remembered as one of extreme 



