WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 191 



immediately took to wing, rose to a moderate height, and flew directly east- 

 ward. On my passage across the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Labrador, in the 

 same month, about a dozen White-winged Crossbills, and as many Mealy 

 Redpolls, one day alighted on the top-yards of the Ripley; but before we 

 could bring our guns from below, they all left us, and flew ahead of the 

 vessel, as if intent on pointing but to us the place to which we were bound. 

 On the 30th of June, a beautiful male was shot, on a bunch of grass growing 

 out of the fissure of a rock, on a small island a few miles from the coast of 

 Labrador; and on the 23d of July, my young friend Dr. George Shattuck, 

 procured a fine adult female on the Murre Islands, whilst she was feeding 

 among the scanty herbage. 



Within the limits of the United States, I have obtained some during 

 winter along the hilly shores of the Schuylkill river in Pennsylvania; also 

 in New Jersey, and in one instance in Maryland, a few miles from Balti- 

 more, beyond which southward I have never met with this species, nor have 

 I heard of any having been seen there. According to Mr. Townsend, who 

 resided about four years on the Columbia river, none are met with in that 

 region. As it appears that individuals accidentally visit Europe, I am led 

 to think that the true summer haunts of this species are as yet not better 

 known than those of the Bohemian Chatterer and Common Crossbill. The 

 latter has been shot in winter by my son John Woodhouse, within a few 

 miles of Charleston in South Carolina, where several were seen, and the 

 specimen he procured there is now in the collection of my friend the 

 Reverend John Bachman. 



The southward migration of this Crossbill, as well as of the other, is 

 extremely irregular. Being evidently hardy birds, they appear to prefer 

 northern to temperate climates, and to shift their station only during the 

 most severe cold. The comparatively small number that spend the year in 

 Maine and the British Provinces adjoining, may be forced to do so by 

 wounds or other accidents, as in general I have found them moving toward 

 the north as soon as the chill blasts of winter were tempered by the warmer 

 rays of the vernal sun. 



The habits of the White-winged Crossbill are in general similar to those 

 of our common species. Its flight is well sustained and undulated; it is 

 easily approached, is fond of saline substances, uses its bill and feet in the 

 manner of Parrots, and procures its food from the cones of pines. Its song 

 is at times mellow and agreeable, and in captivity it becomes gentle and 

 familiar. 



Mr. Hutchins says that this species reaches Hudson's Bay in the month 

 of March, and breeds in May, forming a nest of grass, mud, and feathers, 

 about midway up pine trees, and laying five white eggs, marked with yel- 



