DESCRIPTIVE LIST 229 



KEY TO SPECIES 



1. Wings without white bars. Crossbill. 



1. W'ngs with two white bars. White-winged Crossbill. 



214. Loxia curvirostra minor (Brehm). CROSSBILL. 



Description. Male brick red, female brownish, washed with greenish yellow. No white 

 wing-bars in either sex. Tips of mandibles crossed. Extreme measurements of 5 Raleigh speci- 

 mens: L., 6.00-6.50; W., 3.40-3.70; T., 2.00-2.20. 



Range in America. North America, chiefly far northward, breeding sporadically to Virginia 

 on the coast, and to northern Georgia in the mountains. 



Range in North Carolina. Resident on some of the higher mountains; a winter visitor in the 

 central portion of the State. 



FIG. 179. CROSSBILL. 



The Crossbill has been taken at Raleigh January 16 and 26, and February 8, 1897; 

 March 11 and 23, 1885; May 9, 1907; and June 5, 1887. In Buncombe County 

 Cairns recorded it as a resident, breeding on the Black Mountains; and Rhoads 

 heard it on Roan Mountain in late June, 1895. 



The nesting period is said to be in winter or very early spring, while the snow 

 is still on the ground. The nest is usually found in a coniferous tree. The eggs 

 are pale greenish, spotted and dotted about the larger end with various shades of 

 lavender and brown. Size .75 x .57. 



The birds travel in small flocks and feed on various seeds, the peculiarly shaped 

 bills being well adapted for the purpose of tearing pine-cones asunder. 



215. Loxia leucoptera (Gmel.}. WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 



Description. Male rose-red; female brownish olive, wings with two white wing-bars; mandibles 

 crossed at tips. L., 6.25; W., 3.50; T., 2.65. 



Range. Northern North America, breeding from northern New England northward. South 

 in winter to North Carolina. 



Range in North Carolina. -So far, only taken at Raleigh in winter. 



Three specimens of the White-winged Crossbill were killed by Bruner, February 

 23, 1907, while they were feeding on cedar-berries near the Agricultural and 

 Engineering College at Raleigh. Bruner had no gun with him, but in his scientific 

 longing to discover the identity of these queer-looking birds, he picked up three 



