Relation of Summer Birds to Western Adirondack Forest 463 



July 20 to August 20 chiefly by the seeds of these birches. The 

 Crossbills eat the seeds from the birch catkins in two different ways. 

 Sometimes they cling to the terminal twigs where the cones are 

 attached and bite out mouthfuls of seeds, often standing with head 

 down in their endeavors to reach the catkins, and detaching seeds 

 with their crossed, forcep-like mandibles, and many seeds fall 

 wasted to the ground. Usually, however, they bite off the cones 

 one at a time, holding each against a branch with their feet, and 

 munch on it in a leisurely manner. The Crossbills are the only 

 birds I have observed that have this habit of breaking off the catkins 

 and holding them underfoot as they bite out mouthfuls of seeds. 

 Mrs. Miller ('04, p. 8), however, mentions this action of these birds 

 in their feeding, where she says : " The Crossbills were the most 

 restless, as well as the most noisy of birds, appearing before my 

 window a dozen times a day, sometimes staying but a few minutes, 

 sometimes perhaps half an hour, biting off the cones, holding them 

 under one foot and extracting the seeds in eager haste." 



The Crossbills build their nests in evergreens, making a substantial 

 structure of cedar bark, dried grass, and stems of the Norway spruce, 

 lined with horsehair, feathers, dried grass and fibrous roots. 



Purple Finch. Carpodaeus purpureas purpureas (Gmel.) 



Length 6.2. Dull rose-red, brightest about the head ; back brownish ; 

 belly white. Female grayish brown, streaked below. 



The Purple Finch is a frequenter of the forest margins of the Bog 

 and the clearings. It does not appear to get into the dense woods nor 

 among the lumbered timber of the ridges. It also favors the minor 

 growth near the water margins of the lumbered localities, and the 

 Habitation Clearing is one of its preferred habitats. It is a restless 

 creature, like the Crossbill, except when feeding, and scarcely gets 

 well alighted before it is up and away again. The song of this finch 

 resembles that of the Warbling Vireo, though the former's efforts 

 are uttered singly and with such frequent change of station that no 

 mistake is likely to be made. The Purple Finch frequently came 

 about the dooryard or the space near the tents, but was shyer than 

 the Crossbill. It associates occasionally with the Crossbills and 

 Goldfinches in feeding on the seeds of the white birch. 



Bronzed Grackle. Quiscalus quiscula ceneus Ridgw. 



Length 12. Head purple or steel-green or steel-blue; back and belly 

 bronze ; no iridescent bars. 



The Bronzed Grackle is generally associated with the Camp or 

 the Habitation Clearing, for it likes to frequent the trees of a door- 

 yard, though in the western Adirondack region it nests most fre- 

 quently in the cavities of broken dead snags. Cranberry Lake is 

 noted for its extended inlets, along whose shores stand dead stubs 

 and snags ; and the Crow Blackbird makes such places its resort, 

 especially if there are buildings in the vicinity. As soon as its 

 young are on the wing the Grackle forsakes its nesting place and 

 allies itself with oilier blackbirds flocking together in the swamps 

 preparatory to their early departure for the autumn grainfields. 



