Bicknell on the Nesting of the Red Crossbill. 
7 
loving species as the Bay-breasted, Cape May, Blackburnian, and 
Blue Yellow-backed Warblers, the Bed-bellied Nuthatch, the flolden- 
crested &nglet, and many others, consorting with Winter Wrens, 
Water Thrushes, and Canada Flycatchers in the thickets by wood- 
paths, or along the banks of ponds or rivers ; and I know of no 
more interesting sight, especially if it be a bright September morn- 
ing, before the sun has,, risen above the trees. The dark foliage 
of the alders and viburnums is frosted with innumerable dew- 
drops, which fall in sparklin^sph.o^'ers where a Warbler hops or 
a Woodpecker taps on the slender stems. Yellow and gold and 
scarlet liveries flash among- the glossy leaves, as the active little 
forms appear and disappear, while the constant rustling and low- 
toned conversational-ehirping from the depths of the thicket . suggest 
all sorts 
mysteries. It is a pretty picture, this gath- 
ering of the birds in the quiet depths of the forest, with the tall 
spires of seminel-like firs and spruces keeping guard against the 
sky, and the incessant rasping of the wood-borers, — Nature’s time- 
keepers, — counting the hours of the crumbling trunks around. 
REMARKS ON THE NIDIFICATION OF LOXIA CXJRVI- 
ROSTRA AMERICANA , WITH A DESCRIPTION OF ITS 
NEST AND EGGS. 
BY EUGENE P. BICKNELL. 
Among those of our abundant birds whose nidification remains 
very unsatisfactorily known, the Red Crossbill ( Loxia curvirostra 
americana) occupies no inconspicuous position. True, the nesting of 
the very intimately allied European form ( curvirostra ) is pretty 
thoroughly understood, but, so far as I can now recall, there is but 
a single authentic descriptive record of the nest and eggs of americana 
having been discovered. In view of these facts it is with much 
pleasure that I find myself able to describe the nest and eggs of this 
species taken in the Lower Hudson Yalley ; theoretically one of the 
most unlikely places to be chosen as a breeding station in the State, 
and well illustrating the uncertain and erratic disposition of the 
species in question. 
The winter of 1874-75 will be_remembered as one of extreme 
Record of the Breeding of Crossbills in Northern Vermont 
in 1796. — This early record of the breeding of the Crossbills in New 
England, which I have found in “ The Rural Magazine ; or, Vermont Re- 
pository ” (Vol. II, Rutland, 1796), may not be without interest. Of late 
years they have been found breeding in Maine and Vermont, though but 
few instances have been recorded. — Ruthven Deane, Cambridge, Mass. 
Account of the Crossbill Bird. 
Rutland, October 16, 1796. 
To tiie Editor of the Rural Magazine. 
Sir, — There is a small bird, common in the northern part of this State, 
called Crossbills, from the singularity of their bills, which cross at the extrem- 
ity. Their bodies are a size larger than the Wren, but more full of feathers. 
Their color is ash, or brownish, in general ; on some of which there are tinges 
of red. In the depth of winter they collect around houses, oftentimes in flocks 
of several hundreds, appearing to be particularly fond of feeding and picking 
in places around an house where slops have been thrown, and especially where 
anything salt or briny has been cast ; and they are so tame as often to be taken. 
But what is extraordinary, and makes this bird worthy of notice, is, that they 
lay their eggs and hatch their young in the middle of winter. 
Samuel C. Crafts, Esq., informs me that a person of entire credibility in 
Craftsbury assured him that in the depth of winter, sometimes in February, he 
discovers at one time as many as twelve of their nests on one small shrubby 
Hacmatac-tree, in which there were eggs, and the birds were then setting and 
hatching. As a confirmation of this, he also assures me, that when they have 
been taken in the dead of winter, and been opened, litters of eggs have been 
found in the females, and a part of them with, shells, in a state of maturity, to 
be laid. The naturalist will, I think, be inclined to notice this -curiosity, not- 
withstanding the miuutia of the thing, and the insignificancy of the bird as to 
size. He may do it, also, perhaps, with more security from sarcasm than if he 
lived in the vicinity of Peter Pindar. I am, sir, yours, &c.. 
Thomas Tolman. 
S«& N.O.O. 4, April, 1879, p. /X/-/ZX . 
