184 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



numbers remaining with us in Pennsylvania during the whole winter, 

 feeding on the seeds of the poplar, buttonwood, juniper, cedar and on 

 those of many rank weeds that flourish in rich bottoms and along the 

 margins of creeks. When the season is very severe, they proceed to 

 the south as far at least as Georgia, returning north early in April. 

 They now frequent the elm trees, feeding on the slender but sweet 

 covering of the flowers ; and, as soon as the cherries put out their 

 blossoms, feed almost exclusively on the stamina of the flowers ; after- 

 wards, the apple blossoms are attacked in the same manner; and 

 their depredations on these continue till they disappear, which is- 

 usually about the 10th or middle of May." 



GENUS LOXIA. LINNAEUS. 

 521. Loxia curvirostra minor (BREHM.). 



American Crossbill. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill, feet and iris dark-brown ; both mandibles sickle-shaped ; points of upper 

 and lower mandibles cross on the right and left. Male, dull-red ; darkest across 

 the back ; wings and tail dark, blackish-brown. Female, dull, greenish-olive above 

 each feather with a dusky center ; rump and crown bright, greenish-yellow ; beneath 

 greenish ; tinged, especially on the sides of body, with greenish-yellow. The im- 

 mature birds exhibit all imaginable combinations of the colors of the male and 

 female. They all agree in the entire absence of white wing bands. Length about 6 

 inches, extent about 11 inches. 



Hab. Northern North America, resident sparingly south in the eastern United 

 States to Maryland and Tennessee and in the Alleghanies ; irregularly abundant in 

 winter ; resident south in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado. 



Two species and one geographical race,* of the genus Loxia are 

 found in North America. Both species occur in Pennsylvania. 

 Crossbills, as the name would indicate, can, by their bill alone, be 

 known from all other of our feathered visitants. The American Cross- 

 bill and the Whitewinged species (Loxia leucoptera, Gmel.) may be 

 distinguished without difficulty, if you remember that the first-named 

 never has white bands on the wings and the other species, whether in 

 adult or immature plumage, has, as its specific name signifies, white 

 wing marks. The Crossbills, inhabitants chiefly of pine forests, are 

 frequently met with, during autumn and winter months, in various 

 sections of this Commonwealth. The American Crossbill breeds in 

 the mountainous regions of Pennsylvania; its nests and eggs, Mr. 

 Samuel Ladd, of West Chester, informs me, have been found early in 

 the month of March near Pittston, Pa., by Dr. Livingston Hartman. 



*The Mexican Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra siricklandi, Ridgw.), found in Colorado, south- 

 ern Arizona and the table lands of Mexico, is said to differ from the American Crossbill in 

 being brighter in color and having a slightly larger bill ; the lower mandible especially is heavier 

 than that of L. c. minor. 



