484 



LAND BIRDS 



Breeding Season : March and April. 



Nest: Of spruce twigs, shi'eds of soft bark, etc.; lined with horsehair, 



fine rootlets, etc.; rather flat ; placed in coniferous trees. 

 Eggs .• 3 or 4 ; pale greenish, spotted and dotted about the larger end 



with shades of brown and lavender. Size 0.75 X 0.57. 



Wherever in the Sierra Nevada you find pine cones 

 in plenty, look for the Crossbills. From Placer County 

 to Mount Whitney they are more or less common dur- 

 ing the summer. We use this 

 phrase advisedly, for never were 

 birds more capricious in the 

 choice of feeding and nesting 

 grounds. If here one season, 

 as likely as not next year will 

 find them miles away. But because you 

 may not have seen them, do not decide 

 that they are not near. One hundred 

 feet away a flock of twenty to fifty may 

 be feasting in the tree tops and not one 

 elsewhere. Or you may have them as 

 neighbors to-day, and to-morrow find no 

 trace of one. In the winter this is even 

 more true, for they straggle irregularly 

 over the central part of the State even 

 as far south as Pasadena. At Mon- 

 terey they are irregular summer visitants ; and since 

 they are without established Jaws as to breeding 

 range, they may even be found breeding there. The 

 nest is placed on the horizontal branch of a coniferous 

 tree, usually about twenty feet from the ground, aid 

 both sexes assist in its construction. From the cuii- 



521 a. Mexican 

 Crossbill. 



*' Head dowrif chick- 

 adee fashion.''^ 



