218 FRINGILLIDJE. 



PASSERES. FRINGILLIDsE. 



LOXIA LEUCOPTERA, J. F. Gmelin.* 

 THE WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 



Loxia leucoptera. 



FOR a long time the only known form of Crossbill with 

 white on its wings, this bird was originally described in 1783 

 under the above English name by Latham (Gen. Syn. B. ii. p. 

 108) who had received specimens from Hudson's Bay and New 

 York. A few years later, the compiler Gmelin bestowed on 

 it the scientific appellation it still bears and thereby fore- 

 stalled its first describer's wish, not expressed till 1790 (Ind. 

 Orn. i. p. 371), of calling it Loxia falcirostra. As has 

 been said already it was not for many years after that the 

 white-winged Crossbill of the Old World was recognized as 

 distinct from that of the New. 



It is not improbable that a specimen or more of American 

 origin may have been among those white-winged Crossbills 



* Syst. Nat. i. p. 844 (1788). 



