THE AMERICAN RED CROSSBILL. 



{Loxia curvirostra 7ninor.) 



Dr. Thomas ]^I. Brewer has said of 

 these birds : "These Crossbills are ex- 

 tremely gentle and social, are easily ap- 

 proached, caught in traps, and even 

 knocked down with -sticks." The Amer- 

 ican Crossbill ranges over the northern 

 portion of X^orth America, breeding from 

 the northern portion of the United 

 States northward, and in the Alleghany 

 Mountains southward to the Carolinas. 

 Its winter wanderings are very irreg- 

 ular, even reaching the vicinity of the 

 Gulf of Mexico. There are few birds 

 which are so erratic and uncertain in 

 their migrations, and, at first appearance, 

 so clumsily constructed as regards the 

 shape of their bills. The creation of 

 such a bill by the Almighty w^as even 

 derided by the naturalist, Bufifon, who 

 was a Deist and who had not noticed 

 the perfect adaptation to an end repre- 

 sented by the bill of the Crossbill. Un- 

 less the habits of this bird are studied in 

 the field, we cannot realize that this pe- 

 culiar looking crossed bill is perfectly 

 formed for twisting ofif the scales of pine 

 cones, thus enabling the bird to obtain 

 the seed which lies at the base of each, 

 and of which it is very fond. I shall 

 never forget my first experience with 

 this bird. It was a gray day in mid- 

 winter at Lake Forest, Illinois. I was 

 staying at a friend's home which is al- 

 most surrounded by pine trees. While 

 seated at the breakfast table, we thought 

 we heard the note of some bird. It did 

 not sound quite like the flight note of 

 the goldfinch but rather like that of the 

 purple Martin, though much less distinct 

 and with a crackling tone. After break- 

 fast we started on an investigating tour, 

 and on nearing' a large pine tree, \yq 

 noticed the falling of tiny particles of 

 broken cone scales. Above us there were 



eight or ten Crossbills feeding head 

 downwards and rapidly twisting off the 

 scales. They did not seem alarmed by 

 our presence, and even upon the taking 

 of the pair which were photographed for 

 our illustration, the birds flew only a 

 short distance and soon returned to re- 

 sume feeding. 



While the majority of the Crossbills 

 which visit the United States do so dur- 

 ing the winter season, I have seen them 

 in the vicinity of Chicago as late as in 

 the month of April. This does not seem 

 strange, for it is well known that when 

 a region furnishes an abundant supply 

 of food the Crossbills may linger for 

 some time beyond the usual time for 

 the northward migration. They are also 

 known to nest in regions of abundant 

 food, which are far south of their nat- 

 ural breeding range. 



]\Ir. Amos W. Butler says that dur- 

 ing the summer of 1878 Crossbills were 

 found breeding in the vicinity of Cleve- 

 land, Ohio. Dr. Wheaton reports them 

 as having been known to breed in In- 

 diana. A pair nested at Bloomington, 

 Indiana, in 1885. The nests of the Cross- 

 bills are usually constructed with twigs, 

 strips of bark and grasses, covered with 

 moss and lined with moss, hair and fine 

 rootlets. Generally they are built in 

 coniferous trees in rather deep forests, 

 and from fifteen to thirty feet above the 

 ground. 



The seeds of the pine cones do not fur- 

 nish all the food of the Crossbills. They 

 are also very fond of the flesh of apples. 

 Mr. Otto Widman says that they were 

 attracted to the vicinity of Old Orchard, 

 Missouri, during the winter of 1891- 

 1892 by the abundance of the apples left 

 on the trees. He also states that they 

 will feed on elm buds and the seeds of 

 the horse weeds. 



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