RED CROSSBILL. 



ics; no artist would select such a bill as a model of beauty 

 any more than he would use the peasant's abused foot as 

 u model for his beautiful statue! The color of the bird, 

 however, is aesthetic; it is one of those classic hues which 

 has been named Pompeian red a dull-toned vermilion, 

 the color brightest on the head, breast, and rump, and 

 browner on the back, the wings and tail umber brown 

 lightly edged with dull red, the bill a light horn brown. 

 Nest of twigs, cedar bark, and rootlets, lined with finer 

 materials, horsehair, etc., lodged in coniferous trees perhaps 

 fifteen feet above the ground. Egg, a pale dull green 

 flecked with madder purple, or lavender. The movements 

 of the species are erratic, but the breeding grounds extend 

 as far south as the mountains of South Carolina. 



The song of the Red Crossbill is somewhat similar to 

 that of the Goldfinch, or, in respect of the "reaching" 

 tones, like that of the Indigo Bunting, but I have been 

 able to gather only meagre records during the late winter 

 and early spring, which are certainly not representative of 

 the complete song. The notes are not as full-toned as 

 those of the White-winged Crossbill, and many of them are 

 like the simple, pathetic chirps of a lost chicken combined 

 with lower toned staccato notes, thus: 



rkb r_ rJ _ r.-- 



Gerald Thayer's description of the song as far as words 

 go, is excellent: " A series of somewhat Goldfinchlike trills 

 and whistles seldom of any duration and in any case far 

 less rich than those of the White- winged Crossbill. It is 

 more apt to keep up a low twittering while feeding than 

 that species." The notes, it is well to observe, are in the 

 very highest octave of the piano. The bird is far from 

 uncommon during the fall, winter, and early spring in the 

 White Mountain region, but he does not "pipe up" as 

 often as one would wish. He is a frequent winter visitor 

 of Campton, N. H. 



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