OllUER PASSEUES. 315 



Rest of the head, and all above, rufous grey. Beneath, the 

 bird is pale rufous, inclming to white on the breast and belly. 

 We also give a variety, whose plumage is very pale ashen 

 above, the black extending a little above the base of the bill, 

 over the eye, and a little irregularly behind. It barely 

 trenches on the chin. From the projection of the breast to 

 the abdomen is also black ; bill, not quite so deep a red. 

 This bird inhabits Africa. 



The generic characters of the Cross-bills will be found 

 in the text. Linnaeus and Latham have placed them with the 

 Grosbeaks, but the peculiarity of the bill indicates the pro- 

 priety of a separation. 



They are found in the Northern countries of Europe and 

 America, and inhabit by preference the large pine forests, the 

 fruit of which constitutes their principal food. They some- 

 times emigrate. These birds nestle in the most rigorous 

 season of the year, and have a very variable plumage. There 

 are three authenticated species, one of which inhabits North 

 America. 



The Commoti Cross-bill is extended from the North of 

 Europe, as far as Greenland. Very numerous flocks of them 

 appeared about sixteen or seventeen years ago in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Havre de Grace. They did a vast deal of injury 

 to the apples, which they tore in pieces to come at the pipps. 

 The cross-bill is not a distrustful bird, and will allow itself 

 to be approached pretty closely. It may even be taken by 

 the hand when fatigued, and it exhibits no symptoms of 

 impatience in captivity. It may then be fed on hempseed, 

 but that of the pine is its aliment in a state of liberty. It 

 makes its nest, in January, of moss and lichen, and fastens it to 

 the branches with the resin of the pine, and covers it with this 

 matter. It lays four or five whitish eggs, picked out, spotted, 

 and striped towards the gross end with blood-red. 



