CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 43 1 



Breeding Notes. — On April 26th I found a regular paradise for 

 crossbills. Itwas a stretch of th6 requisite dwarf spruce lying along 

 the Jade Mountains near the head of Hunt River. Here I met 

 with several flocks of white-winged crossbills which, from their 

 unusually lively behavior, indicated the mating season to be at 

 hand. Two or three pairs were apparently already mated, for they 

 were detached from the main flock, each by itself. The males 

 were singing very loudly a twitter somewhat resembling that of 

 the American goldfinch, but coarser. The females were shy, fly- 

 ing covertly from tree to tree and darting through the foliage to 

 avoid the ofiicious advances of the males, who were following 

 them. The latter flew in broad circles above the females, with 

 slowly beating wings, singing continuously, and finally settling on 

 quivering, outstretched wings in a tree top. I visited this locality 

 again on the 28th May, and was fortunate enough to find three 

 nests of the white-winged crossbill. On this date the large flocks 

 had scattered out, and the birds were mostly seen singly or in 

 pairs. Two or three companies of a dozen or so were noted, these 

 probably being non-breeders or yearlings. The first nest was 

 found by spotting a pair of birds and closely watching their move- 

 ments. They were feeding when first noted, but in a few minutes 

 I suddenly lost sight of the female, although the male remained 

 in the vicinity, frequently uttering the metallic call-note previously 

 described. After waiting some time, I proceeded to the tree 

 where the female was last seen. On vigorously shaking the tree 

 several times she flew out of a dense clump of branches and perch- 

 ed a few yards off, chirping solicitously. Both birds soon left the 

 vicinity and did not return while I remained. The nest was situat- 

 ed close to the trunk, ten feet above the ground, in a mass of foliage 

 so thick as to entirely hide it from view. It contained two eggs 

 about one-third incubated. These are ovate and measure "86 x'6i, 

 •84 X '60. The ground colour is an extremely pale tint of blue. One 

 egg has scattering ill-defined spots and blotches of'pale chocolate. 

 The other egg has numerous very pale lavender markings, and, 

 mostly at the larger end, a number of spots and four large blotches 

 of dark seal-brown. The second nest was found through locating a 

 male bird by its call-note, and then tapping every tree in the 

 vicinity with a stick. The female was thus flushed from her nest, 

 which was 12 feet up near the top of a dwarf spruce. It was em- 

 bedded in a mass of foliage against the stem of the tree, much as 

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