LAND BIRDS OP THE DUNES 



hances the illusion. Sometimes one breaks 

 off a cone and flies with it in its bill to a con- 

 venient perch, where it holds the cone with 

 its foot while extracting the seeds. 



With their small and ordinary bills the little 

 pine finches are able to accomplish the same 

 thing. A flock of these birds hanging to the 

 cones and branches is a pretty sight. The 

 seeds are deftly extracted, the meat is eaten 

 and the dry wings left to flutter down to the 

 ground. 



All of these northern birds have distinct 

 and characteristic call notes, whose recogni- 

 tion in the field is a great pleasure. As a flock 

 of crossbills passes overhead in undulatory 

 flight, a shower of notes, sounding like the 

 skipping of stones on the ice, tells us that they 

 are red crossbills, while if the notes have a 

 rattling or chinking character, we know that 

 the birds are the white-winged species. 



One is rarely treated in Essex County to 

 the spring song of these birds, but they may 

 be heard on the northern breeding grounds. 

 Of all their songs nothing exceeds in beauty 

 the joyous carolling of the white-winged cross- 

 bill in the height of his courtship. Perched 

 on the top of a spruce, he begins his lay, but 



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