Conspicuously Red of any Shade 



going out of the front door your rara avis may be eating the 

 crumbs about your kitchen. Even with our eyes and ears con- 

 stantly alert for some fresh bird excitement, our phlegmatic 

 neighbor over the way may be enjoying a visit from a whole 

 flock of the very bird we have been looking and listening for in 

 vain all the year. The red crossbills are capricious little visitors, 

 it is true, but by no means uncommon. 



About the size of an English sparrow, of a brick or Indian 

 red color, for the most part, the peculiarity of its parrot-like beak 

 is its certain mark of identification. 



Longfellow has rendered into verse the German legend of the 

 crossbill, which tells that as the Saviour hung upon the cross, a 

 little bird tried to pull out the nails that pierced His hands and 

 feet, thus twisting its beak and staining its feathers with the 

 blood. 



At first glance the birds would seem to be hampered by their 

 crossed beaks in getting at the seeds in the pine cones — a super- 

 ficial criticism when the thoroughness and admirable dexterity of 

 their work are better understood. 



Various seeds of fruits, berries, and the buds of trees enlarge 

 their bill of fare. They are said to be inordinately fond of salt. 

 Mr. Romeyn B. Hough tells of a certain old ice-cream freezer that 

 attracted flocks of crossbills one winter, as a salt-lick attracts deer. 

 Whether the traditional salt that may have stuck to the bird's tail 

 is responsible for its tameness is not related, but it is certain the 

 crossbills, like most bird visitors from the far north, are remark- 

 ably gentle, friendly little birds. As they swing about the pine 

 trees, parrot-fashion, with the help of their bill, calling out himp, 

 kimp, that sounds like the snapping of the pine cones on a sunny 

 day, it often seems easily possible to catch them with the hand. 



There is another species of crossbill, called the White- winged 

 (Loxia leucoptera), that differs from the preceding chiefly in hav- 

 ing two white bands across its wings and in being more rare. 



221 



