„ . .. _ ,. . Auk, XJI, July, 1895, pp.3o^-j-. 
Notes on the Breeding of the American Crossbill in Hamilton 
County, New York. — I have spent much of my time, during the last 
three summers, at Camp Killoquah, Forked Lake, Hamilton Co., New 
York, and have been much interested in watching the habits of some 
Crossbills that spend most of their time about the camp. 
There are several camps on this preserve, which belong to the Hamil- 
ton Park Club, but Killoquah seems to be the only one that the Cross- 
bills ( Loxia cur-oirostra minor) consider thoroughly congenial, and here 
they replace most acceptably their distant connections, the English 
Sparrows. 
In both 1892 and 1893 ^ had arrived at Camp too late even to pretend 
to hunt for their nests, but last year (1894) as soon as I had arrived there, 
in the last week in July, I immediately inquired for my friends, and was 
much disgusted to learn that they had built a nest, in under the roof of 
the tank that supplies the Camp with water, ^and that on June 5 this 
nest had been torn down, before any eggs had been laid, as it was clog- 
ging the automatic dial, which registers the amount of water in the tank, 
and as the birds were fouling the water. 
Mr. W. Harrison Eisenbrey, the owner of the Camp, as well as the 
guides who knew the birds well, were present when the nest was torn 
down, and showed me exactly where it had been placed inside the roof, 
and on a shelf just above the indicator. The nest, too, was shown me, in 
a very dilapidated condition ; but it was sufficiently well preserved to tell 
just how it must have looked. 
It had been built with a few twigs as a foundation, and a thick layer of 
bark, stripped from the cedars and hemlocks which grow about there in 
profusion, and the whole structure, which was very bulky, was topped 
off and thoroughly lined with plant down. It looked not unlike a large 
edition of a Phoebe’s or Wood Pewee’s nest, and was one of the best built 
and most comfortable nests I ever saw. 
The birds, of which there were several pairs, were still about Camp, 
but no other nests could be found. They were very tame, and extremely 
fond of salt, and could often be found paddling about in the drippings 
under the cold storage house, or perched on a yellow birch beside it. 
Often they might be seen walking sedately about on the banks around 
the Camp, and the males with their beautiful, clear and almost metallic 
notes spent much of their time singing from the tops of some of the 
neighboring pines, a song that once heard can never be forgotten. 
Mr. Geo. W. Smith, one of the guides at Camp, informs me that during 
the latter part of May, 1890, as he and another guide were going through 
some low spruce brush near Brandreth Lake, Hamilton County, they 
found a Crossbill’s nest placed at the height of about five feet against the 
stem of a low spruce tree. The nest contained four or five young, which 
immediately fluttered off in different directions upon his putting his 
hand into it. This nest he tells me was similar in construction to the 
one above cited, except that it was not quite so bulky. — F. H. Kennard, 
Brookline , Mass . 
Probable Breeding of the Red Crossbill ( Loxia curvirostra americana ) 
in Central Maryland.— May 23, 1884, Mr. George Marshall shot two 
Crossbills, a male and female, from a flock of five, near Laurel, Maryland. 
The female showed unmistakable evidence of having recently incubated. 
Two days afterward another male was shot in the same locality. The 
three specimens are now in the National Museum collection, two of them 
having been mounted for the exhibition series. Their measurements 
are as follows : 
Mus. Sex Depth 
Register and Locality. Date. Wing-. Tail. Culm, of Gonys.Tars. M.t. 
No. Age. Bill. 
97967 <?ad. Laurel, Md. May 25, ’84. 3.60 2.30 .68 .40 .50 .67 .60 
97972 <Jad. “ “ “ 23, “ 3.60 2.25 .65 .40 .45 .65 .6c 
97968 ? ad. “ “ “ 23, “ 3.40 2.00 .65 .40 .41 .65 .50 
From their dimensions they would therefore be referable to americana 
proper, although representing about the maximum of size in this form. 
(See Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Vol. II, 
pp. 101-107.) 
This species probably sometimes breeds in various portions of the State 
of Maryland. In fact, I have been assured by Mr. A. Wolle, an experi- 
enced and reliable collector and bird-fancier of Baltimore, that he had, on 
several occasions, found the nest of this species in the immediate vicinity 
of that city. — R. Ridgway, Washington, D. C. 
/, A- HZ, 
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