44 



AMERICAN CROSSBILL. 

 CURVIROSTRA AMERICANA. 

 [Plate XXXL~Fig. i, Male.—Yi^. % Female.'] 



Pe ale's Museum^ No. 5640. 



ON first glancing at the bill of this extraordinary bird one is 

 apt to pronounce it deformed and monstrous ; but on attentively 

 observing the use to which it is applied by the owner, and the dex- 

 terity with which he detaches the seeds of the pine tree from the 

 cone, and from the husks that enclose them, we are obliged to con- 

 fess on this as on many other occasions where we have judged too 

 hastily of the operations of nature, that no other conformation 

 could have been so excellently adapted to the purpose; and that 

 its deviation from the common form, instead of being a defect or 

 monstrosity, as the celebrated French naturalist insinuates, is a 

 striking proof of the wisdom and kind superintending care of the 

 great Creator. 



This species is a regular inhabitant of almost all our pine 

 forests situated north of 40°, from the beginning of September to 

 the middle of April. It is not improbable that some of them re- 

 main during summer within the territory of the United States to 

 breed. Their numbers must however be comparatively few, as I 

 have never yet met with any of them in summer ; tho I lately took 

 a journey to the Great Pine swamp beyond Pocano mountain, in 

 Northampton county, Pennsylvania, in the month of May, express- 

 ly for that purpose ; and ransacked for six or seven days the gloomy 

 recesses of that extensive and desolate morass, without being able 

 to discover a single Crossbill. In fall however, as well as in win- 

 ter and spring, this tract appears to be their favorite rendezvous; 



