A. W. BUTLER. 



47 



THE RANGE OF THE CROSSBILLS IN THE OHIO 

 VALLEY, WITH NOTES ON THEIR UNUSUAL 

 OCCURRENCE IN SUMMER. 



BY A. W, BUTLER, BROOKVILLE, IND. 



In 1838 Dr. Jared P. Kirtland had not met with the 

 American Crossbill {Loxia curvirostra minor) in Ohio or 

 Indiana. Dr. R. Haymond omitted it from his " Birds of 

 Southeastern Indiana" in 1856. Dr. J. M. Wheaton re- 

 ported it from Ohio in the winter of 1859-60. Evidently it 

 was quite well known to Dr. Haymond in 1869. The winter 

 of 1868-69 they were very abundant in the vicinity of Cin- 

 cinnati, according to Chas, Dury ; this was doubtless the case 

 at other places also. The range of the species, at this time, 

 was supposed to be northern North America, south in the 

 Appalachian mountains into Pennsylvania, and extending in 

 winter irregularly over much of the United States. A letter 

 from Mr. C. E. Aiken, of Salt Lake City, Utah, informs me 

 that this species became very abundant in Chicago in July 

 and August, 1869, and remained until late in the fall. They 

 fed greedily upon seeds of sunflowers and were so sluggish 

 that one could approach within a few feet of them, and they 

 fell an easy prey to boys with catapults. In the latter part 

 of August of the same year, he found them common in 

 Lake County, Ind. He also notes that they were not rare 

 the succeeding year in the vicinity of Chicago. Dr. F. W. 

 Langdon notes the capture of a single specimen from a 

 flock of six or eight at Madisonville, near Cincinnati, O., 

 Nov. 30, 1874. In the winter of 1874-75 Mr. Eugene P. 



