130 CURIOUS HOMES AXD THEIR TENANTS. 



Stained with blood and never tiring, 



With its beak it will not oease ; 

 From the cross 'twould free the Saviour, 



Its Creator's Son release. 



And the Saviour speaks in mildness, 



" Blest be thou of all the good ! 

 Bear, in token of this moment, 



Marks of blood and holy rood ! " 



The nest of the crossbill, strange to say, is built, 

 and the young reared, in midwinter, amid snow and 

 ice in the far north — in Labrador, and even in 

 Greenland. The nest, though a pretty little affair, 

 seems illy calculated to keep the eggs or the baby 

 birds from freezing ; but the parent birds are very 

 brave and faithful, refusing to leave their eggs, but 

 returning again and again after they have been taken 

 off by the hand. 



The eggs, four in number, are among the most 

 beautiful of birds' eggs, being artistically variegated, 

 marbled, and dotted with various shades of lilac and 

 purplish brown on a greenish- white ground. The 

 birds frequent pine and fir trees, and the appar- 

 ently awkward shape of their beaks, which cross each 

 other at a considerable angle, is admirably adapted to 

 the habits of the bird. Living mostly on the seeds of 

 the cones of the fir, they hold the cone in their claws, 

 bring the points of the beak directly over each other, 

 and work them between the scales, when, forcing 

 them a little sideways, the scales open, and then, again 

 bringing the points together, they pick out the seed 

 without the least difficulty. 



