532 AVES—CROSSBILL. 
frequently repeated; that of the female is rather a kind of chattering, 
approaching nearly to the rapid pronunciation of chicky-tucky-tuck, when she 
sees any person approaching the neighborhood of her nest. She is, how- 
ever, rarely seen, and usually mute, and scarcely to be distinguished from 
the color of the foliage at a distance; while the loquacity and brilliant red 
of the male make him very conspicuous ; and when seen among the green 
leaves, he has a most beautiful and elegant appearance. 
The summer red-bird delights in a flat sandy country covered with wood, 
and interspersed with pine trees, and is more numerous on the shores of the 
Atlantic than in the interior. In both the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida 
they are numerous; in the northern states they are very rare. 
THE AMERICAN CROSSBILL. 
THIS species is a regular inhabitant of almost all our pine forests situated 
nortn of forty degrees, from September to April. The Great Pine Swamp 
in Pennsylvania appears to be their favorite rendezvous. They then appear 
in large flocks, feeding on the seds of the hemlock and white pine; have a 
loud, sharp, and not unmusical note; chatter as they fly; alight during the 
prevalence of the deep snows before the door of the hunter, and around the 
house, picking off the clay with which the logs are plastered, and searching 
in corners where any substance of a saline nature had been thrown. At 
such times they are so tame, as only to settle on the roof of the cabin when 
disturbed, and a moment after, descend to feed as before. They are then 
easily caught in traps. When kept in a cage they have many of the habits 
of the parrot, often climbing along the wires, and using their feet to grasp 
the cones in, while taking out the seeds. 
_ This bird has hitherto been considered a mere variety of the European 
species, but it differs in several respects. I have therefore separated it from 
the grosbeaks. It is subject to many changes of color. The male is five 
inches and three fourths long. The general color of the plumage, when 
perfect, is a red-lead color ; the tail is forked and edged with yellow. The 
female is less than the male; the plumage is of an olive yellow. 

1 Loxia curvirostra, Lrx. The genus Lovia has the bill rather long, strong,much com- 
pressed, the two mandibles equally convex, and crossing each other at the points when at 
rest; nostrils round, basal, and lateral, concealed by reflected bristly feathers; the anterior 
toes entirely divided; wings with the first quill feathers longest; tail forked. 
