266 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



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

 Vermillion in the high pliunage; 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- 



