WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. S3 



alarmed immediately took to wing, rose to a moderate 

 height, and flew directly eastward. On my passage across 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Labrador, in the same month, 

 about a dozen White-winged Crossbills, and as many 

 Mealy Redpolls, one day alighted on the top yards of our 

 vessel ; but before we could bring our guns from below 

 they all left us, and flew ahead, as if intent on pointing 

 out to us the place to which we were bound. Within the 

 limits of the United States I have obtained some during 

 winter along the hilly shores of the Schuylkill River in 

 Pennsylvania ; also in New Jersey, and in one instance in 

 Maryland, a few miles from Baltimore, beyond which, 

 southward, I have never met with this species, nor have I 

 heard of any having been seen there. Its song is at times 

 mellow and agreeable, and in captivity it becomes gentle 

 and familiar." 



Young birds have the beak of dark horn colour ; to- 

 wards the point, the upper mandible is so compressed the 

 edges are almost united ; the lower mandible rather lighter 

 in colour ; the feathers at the base of the beak, near the 

 nostrils, greyish white ; irides dark hazel ; head, neck, and 

 back, dull greenish grey, mottled with a darker tint, 

 which pervades the centre of each feather ; the rump 

 tinged with greenish yellow ; the under surface of the body 

 of a lighter grey, longitudinally streaked with dusky brown ; 

 the shoulders mottled with two shades of dull greyish 

 brown ; both sets of wing- coverts dull black, with white 

 tips, forming two conspicuous bars across the wings ; all 

 the quill-feathers nearly black ; the primaries and secon- 

 daries with narrow lighter-coloured edges; the tertials 

 edged and tipped with white ; the tail forked, the fea- 

 thers dull black, with narrow light-coloured edges ; under 



VOL. n. D 



