AMERICAN CROSSBILL. 
379 
here than the following species, generally taking, in their irregu- 
lar incursions, a more interior and mountainous route. In the 
eastern chain of the Alleghanies, in Pennsylvania, according to 
Wilson, they appear to be at times very abundant visitors, 
feeding so steadily on the seeds of the white pine and hem- 
lock spruce as to be approached without taking alarm. They 
have also a loud, sharp, and not unmusical note, chattering as 
they fly, and during the prevalence of deep snows become so 
tamed by hunger as to alight round the mountain cabins, even 
settling on the roofs when disturbed, and, like pigeons, de- 
scending in the next moment to feed as if they had never 
been molested. They are then easily trapped, and so eager 
and unsuspicious as to allow an approach so near that they 
may be knocked down with sticks. In these very familiar visits 
they are observed even to pick off the clay from the logs of the 
house, and to swallow the mere earth to allay the cravings of 
hunger. In cages they show many of the habits of the Parrot, 
climbing up the sides and holding the pine-cones given them in 
one claw while they extract the seeds. Like the same bird in 
Louisiana, they also do considerable damage at times in the 
orchard by tearing apples to pieces for the sake of getting at 
the seeds only. They feed likewise on the seeds of the alder, 
as well as the kernels of other fniits and the buds of trees. 
Scarcely any of these birds have yet been observed to breed 
within the United States, as they retire for this purpose to their 
favorite pine forests in high and more cool latitudes, where in 
security and solitude they pursue the duties of procreation. 
Dr. Brewer, of Boston, however, obtained eggs of these birds 
from Coventry, in Vermont. Like the preceding species, they 
often breed in winter in more temperate countries, as in 
January and February, and the young fly in March. 
This bird was not observed by the naturalists of the north- 
ern expeditions in any part of the fur countries. It is, how- 
ever, described by Forster. In the winter of 1S32, during or 
soon after a severe snow-storm, a large flock of these uncer- 
tain winter visitors were seen in a red-cedar grove near to 
Mount Auburn, in this vicinity. In 1833, accompanied by the 
