


RARER BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 585 
indicate that this species breeds at irregular times, since the 
eggs obtained near Milltown, Maine, by Mr. G. A. Board- 
man,* were, as he has informed me, found in February, and 
birds hatched thus early would probably moult their nesting 
plumage early in summer. Mr. Maynard's specimens must 
have been hatched at least as late as June, and probably in 
July, else in respect to the time of moulting the first or 
nestling plumage of this species is strangely anomalous. f 
Since the above was put in type I have received from Mr. 
Boardman farther information respecting the breeding of the 
Crossbills, as follows: “They breed all the season, from - 
the middle of February till into May, and perhaps later." 
WHITE-WINGED CRnossBILL. Curvirostra leucoptera Wil- 
son. This species is much less frequent in its visits than the 
preceding, it being, as Mr. Maynard has observed, much 
more boreal, and is generally seen only in winter. Last 
winter they were quite numerous in the eastern part of the 
state, when, as he has stated above, Mr. Maynard observed 
them as early as the middle of November. They remained, 
according to the same authority, till the first of June, they 
being observed by him in flocks during the last week of May. 
He also informs me that he shot a male in fine breeding 
plumage the 13th of June. In the summer of 1866 he 
found their stomachs filled with canker worms. 
LAPLAND Lonesrur.  Centrophanes Lapponicus Kaup. 
This is a very rare winter visitor in the interior of the state, 
but rather common, according to Mr. Maynard, at Ipswich, 
where he has taken half a dozen in a day, and seen many 
more. It associates with the Snow Bunting ( Plectrophanes 
nivalis), and is probably more or less common in winter 
along the whole coast of the state. 


* See American Notini y Vol. iii, July, 1869. 
t With +h t. int + [74 The Canada 
Jay also breeds when the snow is quite deep, usually in March, and I think again in 
Summer, as | I have seen yo oung birds s in Septem mber. ds have aieo found Raven's eggs 
t ergus Americanus 

tia haus 

When th J o 
to be out by the middle of May, which is usually early.” 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. MI. 
