Notes from Field and Study 



333 



bill is in reality a wonderful adaptation to 

 the bird's mode of life, enabling it to 

 extract the seeds from fir-cones with ease. 

 The seeds of the cone-bearing trees are 

 the principal food of this bird, but it also 

 feeds to a certain extent upon weed-seeds 

 and insects. As with most, if not all, of 

 our Finches, it is very probable that the 

 diet of the young is entirely insectivorous. 

 Berries, including rose-berries, are also 

 eaten. The Crossbill has a rather long 

 tongue, and to watch one lick a hard 

 piece of salt is a really interesting sight. 



The Crossbill is a great conversation- 

 alist, and, when feeding among the tree- 

 tops, keeps up a continual soft twitter- 

 ing. It will probably surprise many 

 people to know that this bird is a good 

 singer, the song being as sweet as that of 

 the Canary and without any of its harsh 

 qualities. In addition to the sweet song, 

 it has a clear call resembling the syllables 

 'pink, pink,' but this, like the song, is 

 gently uttered. . 



The nest is built rather high up in an 

 evergreen and is a fairly neat cup of 

 twigs and moss or grass, lined with fur 

 and feathers. The eggs are of the Finch 

 type, about .75 x .58, greenish white 

 marked with dark brown and gray. The 

 breeding-season is long, extending from 

 January to June. 



One associates this bird with the deep 

 and silent woods, to which, I may say, it 

 lends a welcome touch of life, but, occa- 

 sionally, it will appear in odd places. One 

 morning last summer I noticed a pair of 

 young Crossbills on the wire of my corral 

 and later saw them feeding on some oats 

 the horses had spilled. We promptly 

 scattered more grain and had the satis- 

 faction of tempting them to stay for a 

 time and also that of getting a series of 

 photographs. They appeared to be birds 

 of the year and seemed very affectionate, 

 the male feeding the female with true 

 gallantry. They were, like many of our 

 northern visitors, particularly tame, and 

 one could see them shelling the oats quite 

 plainly. The experience was unusual and 

 made up for some of the numerous disap- 

 pointments of the naturalist-photographer. 



The 'points' of the Crossbill then may 

 be summed up as follows: crossed mandi- 

 bles, plumage of scarlet, green or yellow 

 (according to sex and age), confiding dis- 

 position, gentle voice, and somewhat heavy 

 build, which, in life give it a rather chubby 

 appearance. — H. H. Pittman, Hartney, 

 Maniioba. 



Winter Boarders 



Late last fall, when we started taking 

 in regular winter bird-boarders, we had a 

 pair of Downy Woodpeckers, a pair of 

 White-breasted Nuthatches, four Blue 

 Jays, a half-dozen Juncos, four or five 

 Tree Sparrows, one lone Chickadee, and a 

 lot of English Sparrows. All but a half- 

 dozen of the latter have been trapped and 

 chloroformed. In late November a few 

 Purple Finches appeared, and soon more 

 and more came along, until now (early in 

 February) there are more than a hundred 

 of them. 



Early in December a pair of Red- 

 breasted Nuthatches showed up, and the 

 solitary Chickadee now has three com- 

 panions. The Juncos have also increased 

 to a dozen or fifteen. There are three or 

 four Sparrows that I am unable to 

 identify. Occasionally some Goldfinches 

 visit us, but they are not regular at their 

 meals. 



We have four feeding places — two trays 

 at windows, one covered tray on the side 

 of a tree, and one weather-vane food-house 

 — all home-made. We feed the birds 

 hemp seed, sunflower seed, pumpkin seed, 

 cracked nuts, and suet. The window 

 trays are largely monopolized by the 

 Purple Finches, as many as thirty some- 

 times crowding in and about one tray. 

 They keep up a constant protesting chat- 

 ter while feeding, and show a disposition 

 to be very quarrelsome among themselves, 

 driving one another off the feeding-place. 

 An occasional English Sparrow edges in 

 now and then, and the Finches do not 

 seem to resent it. Once in a while, a 

 Chickadee darts in quickly, grabs a sun- 

 flower seed, and 'beats it' before the 

 Finches know it. The Finches are con- 

 summate gluttons for hemp seed, sun- 



