168 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 



Such a mixture of colors ! The old gentlemen 

 were the handsomest, being some shade of red, 

 while their wives and children were olivaceous or 

 grayish. They seemed like a shifting kaleido- 

 scope of colors, as they hopped about busily hunt- 

 ing for food. 



Among them were a few of their cousins, the 

 pine finches, and I thought I heard some gold- 

 finches with those that passed over. I got the 

 pretty visitors a basket of grain, and scattered it 

 on the crust for them, but they seemed to prefer 

 cone seeds, for they soon flew over to the spruces. 



Unmindful of the laws of adaptation of which 

 these bills are such an interesting example, the 

 legend accounts for them in its own beautiful way. 

 It has it that the birds tried to pull the nails from 

 the cross, and in doing so twisted their bills in 

 such a way that wherever they go they will always 

 bear the symbol of their merciful deed. 



The crossbills are very erratic in habit, and 

 wander over large areas where they do not remain 

 to build. They nest throughout the coniferous 

 forests of the northern United States and Canada, 

 and in mountains of the Southern States, notably 

 in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. 



A curious example of this bird's fondness for 

 salt is recorded by Mr. Romeyn B. Hough. An 

 old ice-cream freezer, after becoming permeated 

 with salt, was thrown out where the crossbills had 

 access to it, and throughout the winter flocks of 



