Peterboro, New Hampshire.
1899.
July & Aug
[margin]Additions
to the 
1898 List[/margin]
  Seiurus noveboracensis. - One seen August 22nd on the banks
of a small trout brook in dense spruce woods east of
Cunningham Pond near the western base of Pack Monadnock.
  Loxia c. minor. - Seen or heard almost daily during both
months and at various places but oftenest and in the greatest
numbers early in July where several good-sized flocks were
met with feeding on larch cones of which the trees bore an
abundant crop this year. Most of the birds observed in
August were adults in pairs although several pairs were often
seen in company forming a small flock. During the latter
half of July and the first week of August one or two pairs
resorted daily to a space of bare, hard-trodden ground just
behind Mr. Day's barn coming usually in the morning or early
forenoon and at each visit spending half-an-hour or more 
picking up particles of loose earth & licking the ground with their
red tongues extended between the mandibles with were pressed
sideways on the grounds. At first I supposed that some salt
had been spilled there but when I put out a small
quantity it was ignored & I finally concluded that the
birds were eating plain dirt which was dry & of a
gravelly texture. They moved by elastic bounding hops like English Sparrows for which the [female] [female] might have been easily mistaken.
I heard Crossbills in what appeared to be full song July 7, 26
27, & 28 and on August 2, 3, and 7. One of the males
which visited Mr. Day's would frequently perch on the ridge pole
or vane of the barn and sing almost continuously for ten or
twelve minutes at a time sitting rather erect and motionless
save for a occasional side turn of the head. Some of his
notes were liquid and sweet but metallic, others harsh or gutteral. The
song as a whole was monotonous and tiresome. It may be
rendered thus: pip-pip-wret-wret-whink-whink-pip-pip etc.
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