The range of the crossbill in the Ohio valley, with notes on their 
UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE IN SUMMER. By A. W . BUTLEK. 
In 1838 Dr. Kirtland had not met with the American Crossbill (. Loxia 
curvirottra miTiov) in Ohio and Indiana. Dr. Haymond omitted it from his 
“ Birds of Southeastern Indiana ” in 185G. Dr. Wheaton reported it from 
Ohio in the winter of 1859-60. Evidently it was quite well known to Dr. 
Haymond in 1869. The winter of 1868-9 they were very abundant in the 
vicinity of Cincinnati. (Charles Dury.) This was doubtless the case at 
other places also. The range of the species at this time was supposed to be 
northern North America, south in the Appalachian mountains into Penn- 
sylvania, extending in winter, irregularly over much of the United States. 
A letter from Mr. C. E. Aikin, of Salt Lake City, Utah, informs me that 
this species became very abundant in the city of Chicago in July and 
August 1869, and remained until late in the fall. They fed greedily upon 
seeds of sunflowers and were so sluggish that one could approach within 
a few feet of them so that they fell an easy prey to boys with catapults. 
In the latter part of August of the same year, he found them common in 
Lake county, Indiana. He also notes that they were not rare the suc- 
ceeding year in the vicinity of Chicago. Dr. F. W . Langdon notes the 
capture of a single specimen from a flock of six or eight at Madisonville, 
near Cincinnati, 0., Nov. 30, 1874. In the winter of 1874-5 Mr. Eugene P. 
