308 BIRDS 



never hurried by frigid weather. A few years ago one of 

 my correspondents discovered a colony of crossbills com- 

 prising both varieties, the red and white-winged, nesting in 

 the virgin forests of Nova Scotia. The birds were sitting 

 upon their nests in February, when the temperature was 

 10 to 20 degrees below zero. 



I have a nest and four eggs of each species, sent me 

 from this locality. The nests are of broken twigs, green 

 moss, and hair, matted together and warmly lined with moss 

 and fur. The nests in this colony were placed in coniferous 

 trees at elevations ranging from twenty to sixty feet. 



The Western form of the crossbill has been known to 

 nest in the higher altitudes of Montana. Some years ago, 

 while spending the early spring and summer in eastern 

 Michigan, a number of crossbills were wandering about a 

 large grove of pine and spruce. We hoped for an oppor- 

 tunity to study the home life of a pair of these birds, which 

 had begun to nest in a remote corner of the college campus, 

 but a sudden rise in the temperature caused the crossbills to 

 make a hasty departure for the North. 



I was playing golf one August afternoon, when I 

 noticed a sparrow-like bird bathing in a pail of water. I 

 was surprised to discover that the unsuspicious visitor was 

 a red crossbill. I could not account for his appearance in 

 Chicago at that time of the year, but the incident is in 

 keeping with the eccentric nature of the species. 



"When feeding they have a short, whistled call-note; 

 they take wing in a body, and their undulating flight is 

 accompanied by a sharp clicking or whistled note. Their 

 song is varied and pleasing but not powerful." 



