266 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



male: Dull red varying from reddish orange chrome in summer to dull 

 Vermillion in the high plumage; the color brightest on the head, breast 

 and rump, the back showing dark brownish centers of the feathers; wings 

 and tail fuscous, slightly edged with the color of the back; bill horn-colored, 

 tipped with dusky; iris brown; feet dark brownish. Female and young: 

 Grayish olive more or less overlaid with a yellowish olive or a dull saffron, 

 especially on the head and rump. 



Length 6.2-6.4 inches; extent 10.75; wing 3.4; tail 2.14; bill .66; 

 tarsus .62. 



Distribution. The American crossbill breeds principally in the boreal 

 zone of America, occasionally and erratically as far south as southern 

 New York, but commonly in the Adirondack spruce forest. In other 

 parts of the State it is an irregular winter visitor, some years appearing in 

 large numbers in nearly all parts of the State, in other seasons almost 

 entirely wanting. It is perhaps more erratic than the Pine grosbeak in 

 its occurrence and more of a wanderer, apparently following the best crop 

 of pine, spruce and hemlock cones about the country, while at other times 

 seeming to be led along purely by its fancy. It also occasionally appears 

 in midsummer in various parts of the State, especially in seasons of great 

 forest fires in the North Woods. Such occurrences are June 8 to July 28, 

 1888, in Niagara county (Davison) ; June 16, 1889, Ithaca, Fuertes; 

 Ithaca, July 15, 1900, Hankinson; Hamilton county, July 13, 1903, Embody; 

 Ontario county, July 27, 1903, Eaton; Monroe county, July 1903, Dr C. A. 

 Dewey; Ithaca, August 7, 1904, and June 24, 1906, Doctor Reed. On 

 account of its wandering habits it is practically impossible to mention 

 migration dates for the Crossbill, but we might say that these birds may 

 be expected from November 15 to December 12, on the average, and they 

 will be last seen in the spring from April 12 to May 14. I am aware that 

 these migration dates do not agree with what would be expected on account 

 of the early breeding habits of this bird, but they seem to be justified by 

 the notes which I have taken for many years. This species has been 

 recorded by Merriam, and by Ralph and Bagg, as a common breeder in 

 Hamilton and Herkimer counties and eastern Lewis county. Eggs in 

 the Smithsonian Institution collected by Doctor Ralph at Morehouse- 



