40 AMERICAN CEOSSSILL. 



roving through the forests and settling where the prospedl for the seed of evergreens is 

 encouraging. But where this appears less promising they pass on after a hurried 

 reConnoitering. Thus they are more abundant in the large northern and mountain 

 wobds than in the more scanty forests of the lowlands, where good seed harvests seldom 

 occur, and where the birds are more likely to be disturbed. Thus they become scarcer 

 from year to year where the extermination of the pine forests is progressing at a deplor- 

 able rate in the Northern and New England States. In Europe this Crossbill, of w^hich 

 our American bird is only a variety, moves very far to the South, being found sometimes 

 in Spain and Greece. They even cross the Mediterranean Sea, visiting the Atlas and the 

 mountains of Asia Minor. Our Crossbill is not known to traverse such a vast, extent of 

 country, though it is breeding, sporadically, south to Maryland and Virginia near the 

 coast, and to Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia in the mountains. In the south-western 

 parts of the country, from western Kansas, Colorado, and Arizona south through the 

 Highlands of Mexico, it is replaced by another variety, the Mexican Crossbill, Loxia 

 curvirostra stricklandi Ridgw. It was also observed in the Coast Range and in the 

 Sierra Nevada of California. In Colorado, according to Mr. Trippe, this bird, like the Pine 

 Grosbeak, is irregularly distributed, flocks of hundreds being occasionally seen in Clear 

 Creek County, while, as a rule, it is not commonly to be met with in that part of the 

 mountains. It ranges much lower than the bird just named, "breeding from 7,000 feet, 

 if not lower, all the way up to timber-line ; nesting, as near, as can be judged from the 

 appearance of the young birds, in April and May, according to the elevation, or about 

 the breaking up of the winter. In June flocks composed of young and old may be seen 

 roving through the woods occasionally, and alighting on dead limbs and tree tops, 

 w^here their bright colors and noisy chatter are sure to attract the attention of 

 passers-by. They are not at all shy, and sometimes alight on trees in the midst of 

 larger towns. Their food is the same as the Pine Grosbeak's — the seeds of pines, birches, 

 etc.; and as they sometimes alight in the thickets of rose-bushes, rasp-berries, and other 

 shrubbery, they probably add haws and berries to their bill of fare. In June I have 

 heard it sing very agreeably; its notes are much like those of the Pine Grosbeak." 



The eastern variety I have frequently observed in Wisconsin, usually in very snowy 

 and cold winters. They generally appeared early in January, in large flocks, and were 

 rarely seen again during the next five or six successive winters. The Crossbills, just 

 after their arrival, are so tame that they come without fear in the vicinity of houses, 

 entering even the parks and gardens of our large northern cities. Evergreens are always 

 preferred, as they afford them excelleiit resting places during the night, sheltering them 

 at the same time from cold winds and snow. At this season they feed on the seeds of 

 the mountain-ash, alder, birch, and all kinds of evergreens. In the cold winter of 1875 

 to 1876 the parks of Chicago and the suburbs around the city swarmed w^ith Cross- 

 bills and other northern birds. They came into my garden and to the windows of my 

 house at Oak Park, Ills., picking up crumbs, pieces of fat and tallow, hemp, millet, 

 Canary-seed, cuttle-fish bone, and even salt. Quite a number were caught and kept in a 

 cage, together with Pine Grosbeaks and Red-polls, which all lived in perfedt harmony 

 and, peace. During the hot summer months they suffered very much and most of them 

 died, while others for years remained perfectly healthy. After being caught they never 



