112 



THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



on the banks of a stream where they could 

 obtain sand. They are harmless, familiar 

 little birds, and are very quiet in their man- 

 ners, as I never saw any encounters, nor those 

 battles that so often occur among English 

 sparrows and other finches. The nests are 

 generally placed near the extremity of a hem- 

 lock or cedar branch, and are large and very 

 thick for the size of the builder. They are 

 variously lined with bits of small roots, fibres 

 of vegetables, hair, feathers and the like, but 

 of course vegetable fibres predominate. I have 

 frequently seen the head and a little portion of 

 the tail of the bird project over the side of a 

 nest, when on, or nearly on a level, but never 

 from below. Although I saw numbers of 

 nests, I never obtained any eggs. The fact is 

 I never tried, as the thought did not at the 

 time occur to me. I, however, obtained many 

 fine and beautiful specimens, of L. curvi- 

 rostra as well as L. leucoptera. These birds 

 breed early in March or towards the end of 

 January and during February. I am unable 

 to state exactly how many eggs they lay, nor 

 the period of incubation. On the 24th of 

 March, 18G2, 1 saw a female crossbill feeding 

 her young ; there were four of them , closely 

 huddled together on a maple twig. I shot 

 three of them, the fourth and the old bird 

 escaping seemingly unhurt. I carefully ex- 

 amined the young ; they were of a greenish 

 brown color, and there was down on the ends 

 of their feathers, especially on the head and 

 back. The tail was more than half grown, and 

 the flight of the young bird that escaped, 

 seemed very strong. The bills of the young 

 were not in the least crossed, and this proves 

 that the beaks take this form as they arrive at 

 maturity ; the appearance was like that of 

 any young finch. It strikes me, their bills 

 were too tender to procure food, and that the 

 parents fed them for a longer period than is 

 general in the finch family. But since that 

 period the axe has done its work. We find no 

 more of this species in the neighbourhood as 

 it has little to live on. Occasionally in Spring 

 before the foliage comes on the trees, families 

 of five or six pass around, but every year they 

 are becoming more scarce, and I have neither 

 heard nor seen one for four or five seasons 

 past. The nest, is, as has been stated, very 

 thick, compact, and large ; nature has taught 

 the bird so to construct it, as otherwise the 

 eggs and young birds would be frozen. The 

 crops of the three procured were quite dis- 

 tended with hemlock seeds. The external 

 covering in every case was removed and each 



seed was bruised, and covered with a 

 peculiarly glutinous fluid, either so given by 

 the old bird, or produced in the crop of the 

 young ones ; perhaps as in parent parrots. 

 Although these birds chirp continually while 

 on the wing, yet I never recollect hearing them 

 sing, and they are very silent when on the 

 ground and when feeding on trees. But, the 

 moment a note of alarm is given, they rise 

 altogether with much noise, and after flying 

 about for a moment, to see that danger has 

 passed, they settle down, frequently on the 

 same tree, in perfect silence, seeming intent 

 in procuring food The peculiarity of the 

 bill, is wonderfully designed to open the scales 

 of fir cones, on which this family feeds, and 

 this point has been discussed by abler pens. 

 But though one is sad to know that they are 

 very seldom seen in this locality, yet noble 

 farms and happy homes take the place of the 

 wild woods where these birds formerly had 

 their habitation. It seems remarkable that 

 crossbills should breed so early in the year. 

 It is not at all strange in any of these months, 

 to see the thermometor frequently below zero. 

 Their food is at this time abundant, and con- 

 tinues so until summer, and it seems improb- 

 able that food supply is the cause of such 

 early incubation. These statements are true, 

 but why this little bird breeds during the 

 coldest period of a Canadian winter, who can 

 tell? Mr. Maynard in his "Naturalists' 

 Guide," mentions a gentleman in Maine who 

 obtained the eggs. This Naturalist, whose 

 name I forget, also avers that he procured the 

 eggs in February, and if I only had such a 

 chance as in 1862 to collect, I would certainly 

 lay past a large store of them. Crossbills are 

 indifferent to cold, and I have observed them, 

 in a heavy snow storm, feeding with great 

 composure. I have seen them in considerable 

 numbers in Beverly township near Hamilton. 

 I presume they migrate north in summer. I 

 never remember seeing them before Decem- 

 ber, nor after the beginning of May. I should 

 like to see the observations of others on the 

 life history of this species, especially any 

 theories or facts that might help to elucidate 

 the cause of its winter incubation. I have 

 heard parties deny that the crossbill or any 

 other little bird t could incubate so early, but 

 this is because they have not had the opportu- 

 nity to prove it as I have ; and, I confess, I was 

 skeptical till I saw the birds, both male and 

 female' incubating, and obtained the young. 



J. H. GrARNIER. 



Lucknow, January, 1882. 



