Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 29 



White :Ash. The males have a pleasing song and are 

 favorite cage birds in the north of Europe, where the 

 bird is common. 



The Crossbills are of circumpolar distribution, inhab- 

 iting in nearly related species the coniferous belt of both 

 hemispheres. The White-winged Crossbill is purely 

 American, breeding chiefly in the Northwest, but occurs 

 often in the company of the Common CVossbill, with 

 which it shares the same habits. 



Crossbills are peculiar in structure ; the head is large, 

 the jaw stout, the bill long and compressed, the tips of 

 the mandibles abruptly bent, so that their sharp points 

 cross each other at an angle. This curious tool is a spe- 

 cial adaptation to its food and the manner of securing it. 

 The sharply pointed curves serve as the most convenient 

 hooks for getting the seeds of the pines, spruces and hem- 

 locks out of the cones. The bill is also used as a tool for 

 climbing after the manner of the parrots. Crossbills are 

 true nomads. They have not even fixed places nor regu- 

 lar times for nesting. They may occur by thousands 

 some years and be quite absent during others. Nests 

 have been found from February to October. They seem 

 to breed only in places where they are sure of enough of 

 their favorite food trees, spruces and balsams, loaded 

 with ripening cones. They rove widely in search of food 

 and their wanderings in winter extend irregularly south- 

 ward, exceptionally as far as South Carolina and 

 Louisiana. 



When feeding in trees no sound escapes their throats, 

 and they would easily be overlooked if it were not for 

 the noise made by the falling scales detached from the 

 cones by the birds in securing the seed. When disturbed 

 in their work they all start at once with a peculiar note, 

 and fly far, but may be back again after a short time. On 

 the wing they look like female Cowbirds or overgrown 

 House Sparrows, especially the young birds and females 

 in their duskr dress. 



