THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 129 



Illinois. And according to Mr. NehrlingJ this Finch has been 

 taken at Waukegan, Illinois, during the breeding season. 



The range of the Purple Finch covers the whole of eastern 

 North America, from the Gulf of Mexico northward to Labrador 

 and the Saskatchewan River, and from the Atlantic coast west- 

 ward to the Plains. It breeds from Illinois and Pennsylvania 

 northward though chiefly north of the United States. 



Genus LOXIA Linnaeus, 1758. 



Loxia curvirostra minor (Brehm). American Crossbill. 



Loxia curvirostra FORSTEB, Phil. Trans., LXII, 1772, 402 (nee Lin- 

 naeus) . 



Crucirostra minor BBEHM, Naumannia, 1853, 193. 



Loxia curvirostra var. americana COUES, Key, 1872, 351. 



Loxia curvirostra minor RIDGWAY, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., VIII, 1885, 

 354. 



Popular synonyms: RED CBOSSBILL. AMERICAN RED CBOSSBILL. 



This Crossbill is an irregular and very erratic winter visitant. 

 In May, 1899, I obtained three specimens from a large flock in 

 the woods bordering Wolf Lake, Indiana. Nearly every winter 

 it may be seen in the woods near Lake Forest, Illinois, about 

 twenty-four miles north of Chicago. According to Mr. Amos 

 W. Butler,* Mr. C. E. Aiken observed them in Lake County, 

 Indiana, and in Cook County, Illinois, during the years 1869 and 

 1870. They were again observed in Lake County, Indiana, in 

 May, 1887. Mr. Aiken also informed Mr. Butler that "they 

 became very abundant in the vicinity of Chicago, including Lake 

 County, Indiana, in July and August, 1869, and remained until 

 late in the fall. They fed greedily on sunflower seeds, and were 

 so sluggish that one could approach within a few feet of them, 

 so that they fell an easy prey to boys with catapults." Mr. E. W. 

 Nelson says :f "Formerly a common winter resident ; now rare." 



The range of the American Crossbill covers temperate North 

 America, and it breeds from the northern portions of the United 

 States northward to certain portions of Alaska. It also breeds 

 sparingly in the higher portions of the eastern United States, 

 and in the Alleghanies. In many localities of the more southern 

 portion of its range it is irregularly abundant in winter. 



Loxia leucoptera Gmelin. White-winged Crossbill. 

 Loxia leucoptera GMELIN, S. N., I, ii, 1788, 540. 



*Birds of Indiana. Twenty-second Annual Report, Dept. Geol. and Nat. Re- 

 sources, Indiana, 1897, 919. 



tBirds of Northeastern Illinois. Bull, of the Essex Institute, Vol. VIII, 1876, 105. 

 JNorth American Birds, Pt. IX, 31. 



