300 PERCHERS AND SINGERS 
Tue American Cross-Bri1! is a dull- 
red bird with brown wings and tail, and 
its bill is so emphatically crossed it seems 
like a deformity which must necessarily 
be fatal to a seed-eater. But Nature has 
her own odd ways; and it seems that the scissor arrangement 
of this bird’s beak is to promote the husking of pine cones 
and the cracking of the seeds. 
This is a bird of the North, and in the East comes 
no farther south than a line drawn from Colorado to Wash- 
ington, D. C. In the West it descends to Arizona, but 
everywhere in the United States it is only a winter visitor. 
With an opera-glass it is always easily recognized by its 
crossed bill. 
Tue AMERICAN GOLDFINCH? is a conspicuously yellow 
bird, though quite small. It is a plump-bodied, fluffy little 
bird, all sulphur yellow except a circular black cap atop of 
its head, and black trimmings on its wings and tail. It is 
exquisitely pretty, and, like a feathered coquette, loves to 
pose on the steep side of a tall mullen stalk, with no leaves 
about to cut off the admirers’ view. It is sociable, also, and 
loves the garden, orchards and meadows of the self-elected 
“lord of creation,” man. 
As a weed-destroyer, this bird has few equals. It makes 
a specialty of the seeds of members of the Order Compositae, 
and is especially fond of thistles, ragweed, wild lettuce and 
wild sunflower. (Sylvester D. Judd.) 
1 Lox'i-a cur-vi-ros'tra minor. Length, 6.50 inches. 
2 As-trag-a-li'nus tris'tis. Length, 5 inches. 
