Nest of the White-winged Crossbill. 165 



obtaining the nest and eggs of the White-winged Cross- 

 bill and Pine Finch, which breed in midwinter, I paid a 

 visit to a forest much frequented by these birds, in January, 

 1868, during very cold weather.* Here were large flocks of 

 the former, either about the lumber camps or the settlements ; 

 but although I bestowed much time, I could not make out 

 that there was a general nidification going on. However, 

 about the middle of the month, I was fortunate enough to ob- 

 tain a nest and three eggs, and another was brought to me some 

 weeks previously. As the nest and eggs of this crossbill are 

 rare in collections, I may state that it is made of the black 

 moss called the "old man's beard," which hangs in long and 

 graceful tresses from the branches of many trees, furnishing, 

 as we have seen, a staple article of food of the reindeer. This 

 is interwoven with birch bark and twigs, and the interior is 

 lined with wool or soft moss. It is usually placed in the fork, 

 although sometimes in the hole of a tree. The egg is bluish- 

 white, with red streaks on the larger end. At one lumber 

 camp in the wilderness I took no less than thirty crossbills in 

 the course of an hour with hair nooses, and a snow shoe placed 

 after the schoolboy's method of capturing birds with a sieve. 

 There appeared a large preponderance of immature plumaged 

 and adult males over the females, which, however, were nume- 

 rous, and one of which laid an egg in the cage soon after capture 

 The immature plumaged or former year's bird showed the 

 same enlarged genital organ as the adult j thus demonstrating 

 the fact that, like other species, it breeds before the full costume 

 is gained. No pairing was noticed, possibly from the circum- 

 stance that the flock represented birds off duty, their partners 

 being on the nests ; for when we think of the lowness of the 

 temperature at the time, it would surely be certain death to 



* The mean daily temperature for the month was 12 Faht. On two 

 days only did the glass rise to 34° — the lowest being 14 , and for twelve 

 days the readings were below zero ; but this was not the coldest month, 

 December, 1867, being very much more severe. 



