426 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



to him, and they turned out to be only eggs of the English, 

 sparrow. I have no record of this bird from Alberta, but it is 

 only a matter of time when it will extend its range right to the 

 Rocky Mountain foothills. (W.Rm?ie.) 



CLXXXVIII. LOXIA Linnaeus. 1758. 



521. American Crossbill. 



Loxia curvirostra minor (Brehm) Ridgw. 1885. 

 One specimen taken in Hudson Strait. It flew on board ship 

 and was presented by Dr. Matthews. \Dr. R. Bell) Common- 

 throughout the year on Newfoundland. {Reeks.) Common ; 

 arrives after the breeding season in Nova Scotia. {Downs) 

 Usually very abundant in summer when large roving flocks are to 

 be met with everywhere in Kings Co., N.S. ; a nest containing 

 three young was taken early in August, 1896. {H. Tufts) Three 

 seen on Sable Island, N.S.,July2nd„igo2. {James-Bouteillier) I did 

 not see this species in Cumberland Co., N.S., until March when it 

 became common. At that time the males were in full song, and 

 the birds were paired, male and,female always being seen together. 

 I judged both this and the next species would breed in April. 

 {Morrell) Common in woods at Baddeck and Margaree, Cape 

 Breton Island, July, 1898; in spruce trees at Brackley Point, Prince 

 Edward Island, Aug. 12, 1888. {Macoun) Abundant in flocks, 

 mixed with the following species, feeding chiefly on larch trees 

 on Prince Edward Island. {Dwight) A rather common resident 

 in New Brunswick. (^Chamberlain) Not uncommon in the Res- 

 tigouche valley, N.B. {Brittain & Cox) Rare on the Magdalen 

 Islands ; a male seen on Grindstone Island. {Bishop) Taken at 

 Charlesbourg ; common summer resident in eastern Quebec. 

 {Dionne) A transient visitant but common ; they are very erratic 

 in their moveme'nts and may appear at Montreal at any time during 

 the year,but I have never heard of them breeding in this district; I 

 saw a small flock of this species May 14th, 1883, at Cote St. An- 

 toine, feeding on the cones of a larch tree. {Wintle) A common 

 summer visitor at Scotch Lake, York Co., N.B. {W. H. Moore) A 

 common winter resident at Ottawa, Ont. The summer records 

 are as follows : May 10, 1882 ; August 4, 1887 ; June 19, 1889; and 

 July 3, 1890. {Ottawa Naturalist, Vol. V) In the winter of 1897 

 this bird was very common in Ontario ; and in 1898 I saw a pair 



