Nov., 1900] BIRDS OF THE KQ.TZEBUE SOUND REGION. 45 



ground on the lower horizontal branches of a small spruce growing on the side of 

 a wooded ridge. The nest was a shallow affair, very much like a Tanager's. It 

 consisted of a loosely-laid platform of slender spruce twigs, on which rested a 

 symmetrically-moulded saucer of fine, dry, round-stemmed grasses. Its depth was 

 about one inch and internal diameter 3.25. The eggs are pale Nile blue with a 

 possible greenish tinge, dotted and spotted with pale lavender, drab and sepia. 

 The markings are very unevenly distributed, the small ends of the eggs being 

 nearh' immaculate, while there is a conspicuous wreath about the large ends. The 

 markings are not abruptly defined, but the margins of the spots are indistinct, 

 fading out into the surrounding ground-color. One of the eggs is more thickly 

 and evenly sprinkled with various tints of bistre. The eggs are rather ovate in 

 shape, but the small ends are blunt. They measure i.osx.yr, 1.05X.72, 1.04X.74, 

 1.03X.75. On June nth, in the Kowak delta, I found a similarly-constructed nest 

 containing four small young; this was six feet up in a dwarf spruce. And on the 

 12th, I found another nest in all particulars like the other two, and containing 

 four eggs almost ready to hatch. My series of 44 skins of P. e. alascensis confirms 

 the distinctness of that race. The Kowak River birds present an extreme of ash- 

 11 ess, 



Loxia laicopiera Gmel. 

 White-wingsd Crossbill. 



This species was a common resident throughout the year in certain parts of 

 the Kowak Valley. I did not see it in the delta of the Kowak, nor in any numbers 

 along the river. But along the bases of the mountains, especially in the tracts of 

 dwarf spruces bearing great clusters of cones, the White-winged Crossbills were 

 liable to be found at any time. During the winter they were usually noted in 

 flocks of a dozen to fifty or more, flying from place to place. The3' then readily 

 attracted attention by their chorus of notes, somewhat resembling these of redpolls. 

 But the crossbill's ordinary call-note was sharper and more harsh, with several 

 uttered together in rapid succession. But when feeding, perched in various 

 attitudes among the cones of the thick-foliaged dwarf spruces, they were invaria- 

 bly quiet, and were then extremely difficult to discern, even if one had spotted 

 the tree in which the flock had alighted. Their movements, as they pick open the 

 cones and extract the seeds within, are slow and deliberate, and a bird will v.'ork 

 away on a cone for many minutes without changing his position. Then, all of a 

 sudden, at two or three sharp chirps from some one in the crowd, the whole flock 

 will take flight as with one accord, uttering a chorus of cheerful chirps. The 

 bright red adult males seem to have a special note of their own, a sharp metallic 

 "cheet," to me remarkably like the spring call-note of the Arizx)na Hooded Oriole 

 in Southern Cahfornia. This note is often repeated during a flight of the cross- 

 bills, and is distinctly recognizable among the medley of ordinary notes. On April 

 26th I found a regular paradise for crossbills. It was a stretch of the requisite 

 dwarf spruces lying along the Jade Mountains near the head of Hunt River. Here 

 I met with several flocks of White-winged Crossbills which, from their unusually 

 lively behavior, indicated the mating season to be at hand. Two or three pairs 

 ■were apparently already mated, for they were detached from the main fleck, each 

 by itself. The males were singing ver^^ loudly a twitter somewhat resembling 



