342 LOXIA 



498. WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 

 LOXIA LEUCOPTERA. 



Loxla leucoptera, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 845 (1788) ; Audub. B. Arner. 

 pi. 201 ; (Wilson), Am. Orn. iv. p. 48, pi. 31, fig. 3 ; Naum. xiii.p. 188, 

 pi. 385, fig. 4 ; Gould, B. of E. iii. p. 203 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit, 

 iii. pi. 48 ; Newton, ii. p. 218 ; Dresser, iv. p. 137, pi. 204, fig. 2 ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xii. p. 443 ; Saunders, p. 204 ; Kidgway, 

 p. 393. 



ad. (N. America). Head, neck, and back carmine-red, with a pome- 

 granate tinge, often pomegranate red, the dark bases of the feathers 

 showing through here and there ; rump claret-red ; scapulars black, 

 slightly tinged with red ; wings and tail black ; wing-coverts broadly 

 tipped with white, forming two white bands, inner secondaries slightly 

 tipped with white]; under parts red like the upper parts, but the middle of 

 the abdomen greyish white, tinged with red ; under tail-coverts dark 

 slaty grey, broadly margined with white ; bill slender, light horn, darker 

 at the tip ; legs brownish ; iris dark brown. Culmen 0'8, height of bill at 

 base 0'3, wing 3*4, tail 2'55, tarsus O'Ginch. The female has the upper parts 

 dull ashy grey, broadly striped with blackish brown, slightly tinged with 

 yellow ; rump apple-yellow ; under parts greyish white, more finely 

 striped with dull blackish brown, the middle of the abdomen nearly white ; 

 wings and tail as in the male. 



Hob. North America from Northern New England as far 

 north as the spruce-forest extends, east to Alaska, in winter 

 wandering to or beyond Lat. 40. Has occurred in Greenland 

 and Great Britain. 



Frequents the spruce-woods and is tamer and more confiding 

 than L. curvirostra, and in winter visits the lumber-camps in 

 small flocks to obtain food. Its note is not unlike that of 

 L. curvirostra and it is said to utter a musical song, but though 

 I saw numbers during the breading season I never heard one 

 sing. They make good cage birds and soon become very tame. 

 It breeds in British North America in the spruce-forests, con- 

 structing a nest of dry twigs and green lichens, thinly lined 

 with coarse hairs and shreds of the inner bark of trees. The 

 eggs are pale blue spotted or dotted with black and ashy lilac, 

 in size rather smaller than those of L. curvirostra. It breeds 

 very early whilst the snow is still deep in the forests, and the 

 nest is therefore very difficult to find. 



