44 WINTER NOTES 
abundant supply of nutricious seeds furnished by the 
weeds that rise above the snow, as well as on the seeds of 
the hemlock, the spruce, the larch, the alder and birch of 
the swamps and thickets, he never lacks for food, even in 
the severest weather ; roving in flocks, social and joyful, 
he seems the very ideal of contentment. One of his more 
common associates is the Pine Finch, or Northern Siskin, 
(C. pinus Bon.) ; though rather more partial to the for- 
ests than he, they greatly resemble each other in their — 
notes and general habits; but the latter, from its more 
pointed wings and slender form, is swiftest in flight, and 
possesses milder and more wiry notes, often heard while 
its author is far beyond our sight. 
Some of the members of this large family, such as the two 
_ species of Crossbills, depend so much for food on the con- 
iferous forests as to be seldom seen far away from their 
borders. The Common or Red Crossbill (Chervirostet 
Americana Wilson), though partially resident, is of de- 
sultory habits, and is never commonly seen, except when 
the pine woods, their usual home, are well laden with 
cones. The White-winged (O. leucoptera Wilson), 
its smaller but more beautiful congener, and an inhab- 
itant of the northern forests of the Old World as well as- 
of America, we only see at irregular intervals, common- 
ly years apart. The winter of 1859-60 is memorable 
with bird collectors for their great abundance in out 
spruce and larch swamps, as well as for the occurrence of 
a very unusual number of other northern strangers. The 
Crossbills, by the great strength of their maxillary mus- 
cles, and their strong oppositely curved mandibles, are 
able to pry open the tightly appressed scales of the fir 
cones, and to extract at pleasure the oily seeds, which 
other birds eae one of have to wait for the elements 
