468 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 
winter by my son Jonn Woopuouss, within a few miles of Charleston 
in South Carolina, where several were seen, and the specimen he pro- 
cured there is now in the collection of my friend the Reverend Joun 
BacHMAN. 
The southward migration of this Crossbill, as well as of the other, 
is extremely irregular. Being evidently hardy birds, they appear to pre- 
fer northern to temperate climates, and to shift their station only during 
the most severe cold. The comparatively small number that spend the 
year in Maine and the British Provinces adjoining, may be forced to do 
so by wounds or other accidents, as in general I have found them 
moving toward the north as soon as the chill blasts of winter were 
tempered by the warmer rays of the vernal sun. 
The habits of the White-winged Crossbill are in general similar to 
those of our common species. Its flight is well sustained and undu- 
lated ; it is easily approached, is fond of saline substances, uses its bill 
and feet in the manner of Parrots, and procures its food from the cones 
of pines. Its song is at times mellow and agreeable, and in captivity 
it becomes gentle and familiar. 
Mr Hurcuins says that this species reaches Hudson’s Bay in the 
month of March, and breeds in May, forming a nest of grass, mud, and 
feathers, about midway up pine trees, and laying five white eggs, mark- 
ed with yellowish spots. The young are abroad in the end of June, 
and the species remains in that country until the latter part of Novem- 
ber. Dr Ricuarpson states that it ‘“ inhabits the dense white spruce 
forests of the Fur Countries, feeding principally on the seeds of cones. 
It ranges through the whole breadth of the continent, and probably up 
to the sixty-eighth parallel, where the woods terminate, though it was 
not observed by us higher than the sixty-second. It is mostly seen on 
the upper branches of the trees, and, when wounded, clings so fast, 
that it will remain suspended after death. In September it collects in 
small flocks, which fly from tree to tree, making a chattering noise ; 
and in the depth of winter it retires from the coast to the thick woods 
of the interior.” 
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