'110 LOXIA LEUCOPTEEA, WHITE -WHSTGED CROSSBILL. 



tbrough the woods occasionally, and alighting on dead limbs and tree 

 tops, where their bright colors and nois.y chatter are sure to attract tlie 

 attention of passers-by. They are not at all shy, and sometimes iilifiht 

 in trees In the midst of large towns. Their food is the same as the Pine 

 •Grosbeak's — the seeds of pines, birches, &c. ; and as they sometimes 

 alight in the thickets of rose-bushes, raspberries and other shrubbery, 

 . they probably add haws and berries to their bill of fare. In June I 

 have heard it sing very agreeably ; its notes are much like those of the 

 Pine Grosbeak, and show the family resemblance which runs through 

 the songs of all the members of this gxoup of the Fringillidce. Among 

 a series of specimens, some will be found having much larger bills than 

 others, showing an approach to var. mexicana. A male, taken in Bergen 

 Park, had the bill 0.78 in length. 



The eggs of this species are four or five in number, about 0.85 by 0.52 

 ill size, very pale greenish, variously marked in dots and blotches, with 

 different shades of lilac and purplish brown. Dr. Brewer notes a nest 

 taken in Vermont, early in March, when the ground was covered with 

 snow, from the upper branch of a leafless elm. "The birds were very 

 tame and fearless, refusing to leave their eggs, and had to be several 

 times taken off by hand." Even after the nest had been taken in hand 

 the biid resumed its place upon it. 



LOXIA LEUCOPTEEA, GraX- "^ 



White-winged Crossbill. 



Loxia leueopte>-a, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 844.— Bp., Syn. 1828, 117.— Bp., Am. Orn. ii, 

 — .— Sw. & Rich., F. B A. ii, 1831, 263.- Nutt., Man. i, 1832, 540.— Add., Oin. 

 Biog. iv, 1838, 467, pi. 364 ; Syn. 1839, 129 ; B. Am. iii, 1841, 190, pi. 201.— Gin., 

 B. L. I. 1844, 131.— Bp., Consp. Av. i, ia50, 527.— Reinh., Ibis, iii, 1861, 8 

 (Greenland).- Goui.D, B. Gr. Brit, v, 1864, pi. — (England). — Lawk., Ann. Lye. 

 N. Y. viii, 1866, 288.— FiKSCH, Abh. Nat. iii, 1872, 55 (Alaska).— B. B. & R., N. 

 A. B. i, 1874, 488, pi. 23, f. 2, 3. 



Curvirostia leucoptcra, VViLS., Atti. Orn. iv, 1811, 48, pi. 31, f. 3.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 427.— 

 Wheat., Ohio Agric. Rep. 1860, —.—Ha yd., Rep. 1862, 165.— Ai-lbn, Pr. Ess. 

 Inst, iv, 1864; 70. — Boardm., Pr. Bost. Soc. ix, 1862, 126 (Calais, Me., breeding 

 in winter).- MclLWR., Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 1866, 88.— Couks, Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 1868, 

 281.— TuENB., B. E. Pa. 1869, 22.— Dall & Bank., Tr. Chic. Acad, i, 1869, 281.— 

 Stev., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 1870, 464.— Mayn., Nat. Guide, 1870, 111.— Mayn., 

 Pr. Bost. Soe. xiv, 1871, —.—Coop., B. Cal. i, lci70, 149 (notin California).— 

 COUER, Key. 1872, 129, fig. 76. 



Loxia falcivoslra, Lath., Ind. Orn. i, 1790, 371. 



Crucirosira leucoptera, Brehm, Nauin. i, 1853, 254, f. 20. 



Sab. — Northern North America, from ocean to ocean. South in winter into the 

 United States, as far west as the Rooky Mountains (no United States Pacific coast 

 record). Resident in Northern New England; breeding in winter, and, according to 

 Aududou, breeding in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Wyoming in summer. South 

 ordinarily to Philadelphia. Greenland, one instance. Accidental in Europe. (See 

 Hakting, Man. Brit. Birds, 1872, 116.) 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 8964-65, Laramie Peak, August 25, 1857. 

 Late/r Expeditions. — 60639, Box Elder Creek, Wyoming, August 21, 1870. 



Dr. Hayden's specimens are of unusual interest. They afford the only 

 record I have been able to find of the occurrence of the species in the 

 United States west of the Mississippi ; while the dates of collection — 

 June, August — render it unquestionable that the birds breed where they 

 were procured. Dr. Biewer describes a saucer-shaped nest of lichens, 



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