part i
. p. 51.
Male in immature state. Plate CXCVI. Fig. 1.
Bill shortish, as broad as deep at the base, the sides convex, the dorsal outline curved from the base; upper mandible cerate, the edges a little inflected, rather obtuse, nearly straight to the tooth-like process, which is rather rounded, the tip trigonal, descending, acute; lower mandible involute at the edges, truncate at the end, with a notch near it on either side, corresponding to the process above. In an individual which I have seen, the margin line of the upper mandible was undulated, or formed a festoon behind the tooth, but in my two specimens, the skin of one of which is now before me, it is quite straight when viewed directly, although when placed obliquely it shews a slight undulation. Nostrils round, basal, lateral, with a soft papilla in the centre, connected with the upper edge. Head rather large and round; neck shortish; body ovate, anteriorly broad; the whole conformation indicative of great strength and
## activity, such as befit a hunter. Legs robust, short; tarsus feathered
more than half way down, their exposed part covered anteriorly with small quincuncial transversely oblong scales, as is the proximal portion of all the toes, posteriorly with smaller papillar scales (there are no broad scales or other scutella on the tarsus, as in most other Hawks, and in the Peregrine). Toes, excepting at the base, covered above with broad scales or scutella, scabrous and tubercular below; middle and outer toes connected by a membrane; second and fourth toes nearly equal, the latter very little longer, the hind toe shortest, but with the longest claw; claws strong, curved, acute, marginate beneath, convex above.
Plumage compact, imbricated. Feathers of the head short and narrow, of the back rounded, of the neck and breast broadly oblong, of the thighs long and rounded. Space between the bill and eye covered with short bristly feathers. Wings long, about four inches shorter than the tail; the third quill longest, but scarcely longer than the second, the first and fourth of the same length. The first and second are cut out or sinuated on the inner edge towards the tip, the second slightly. The tail is long, straight, slightly rounded, of twelve broad feathers, which at the end suddenly taper to a point. When worn, they seem rounded, but in my specimens the plumage was new.
Bill and cere pale blue, the rather narrow ridge of the upper mandible darker. Iris brownish-black. Feet greyish-blue, the under parts of the toes greenish-yellow; claws dusky. The general colour of the plumage above, is brownish-grey, the feathers having a very narrow margin of paler. Some of the upper tail-coverts are tipped with brownish-white, and the base or concealed part of the posterior cervical feathers is of that colour. The quills are more or less mottled with brownish-white on the inner webs. The tail is transversely barred with _thirteen rows_ of transversely oblong spots of brownish-white, confined chiefly to the inner webs, although there are some on the outer ones towards their end; the tips are of the same light colour. A few of these spots appear on the upper surface of the feathers towards their extremities. The tail is moreover very obscurely barred with darker. The two middle feathers are without white spots. The throat is brownish-white, finely streaked with brown. The lower parts in general are brownish-white, longitudinally patched with dark brown, the central part of each feather being of the latter colour. The under wing-coverts are similarly marked, as are the under tail-coverts, which are alternately barred with brown and white.
Length 22½ inches, extent of wings 4 feet 1 inch; bill 1-4/12 along the ridge, 1½ along the edge; tarsus 2.
The Female in the same state. Plate CXCVI. Fig. 2.
The above description applies in all particulars to the female, only the two middle tail-feathers were spotted like the rest.
Length 2 feet, extent of wings 4; bill 1-4/12 along the ridge; tarsus 2.
It is remarkable that the female, although the heaviest and apparently the strongest bird of the pair, has the alar extent less by an inch than that of the male, which she exceeds in length by 1½ inches.
THE COMMON CROSSBILL.
_LOXIA CURVIROSTRA_, LINN.
PLATE CXCVII. MALE, FEMALE, AND YOUNG.
This species I have found more abundant in Maine, and in the British provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, than any where else. Although I have met with it as early as the month of August in the Great Pine Forest of Pennsylvania, I have never seen its nest. Many persons in the State of Maine assured me that they had found it on pine-trees in the middle of winter, and while the earth was deeply covered with snow. The people employed in cutting pine timber at that season, when it is easier to remove the logs to the rivers, in which they are subsequently floated when the ice melts, have very frequently told me, that on felling a tree they have caught the young Crossbills, which had been jerked out of their nest. Several of my acquaintances in that district promised to send me nests, eggs, and young; but as yet, I am sorry to say, none of them have reached me. While at Labrador I was much disappointed at not finding a single bird of this species, although the White-winged Crossbill was tolerably abundant there; and in Newfoundland matters were precisely the same.
The Crossbill lives in flocks, composed apparently of several families, and is an extremely gentle and social bird. They are easily approached, caught in traps, or even killed with a stick. So unsuspicious are they with respect to man, that they not unfrequently come up to the very door of the woodman's cabin, and pick the mud with which he has plastered the spaces between the logs of which it is composed. When the huts are raised on blocks, to prevent dampness, they are often seen under them, picking up the earth for want of better food, while the weather is at its coldest.
Their food consists principally of the seeds contained in the cones of different species of the pine and fir. In the pine forests of Pennsylvania I saw them feeding on those of the white pine, the hemlock, and the spruce, as well as on various kinds of fruits. Wherever an apple-tree bore fruit, the Crossbills were sure to be on it, cutting the apples to pieces in order to get at the seeds, in the manner of our Parakeet of the south. Nothing can exceed the dexterity with which they extricate the seeds from the cones with their bill, the point of the upper mandible of which they employ as a hook, placing it at the base of the seed, and drawing it up with a sudden jerk of the head. They frequently stand on one foot only, and employ the other in conveying the food to their bill, in the manner of parrots. They are fond of all saline matter.
The flight of this species is undulating, firm, tolerably swift, and capable of being protracted over a large space. While travelling they pass in the air in straggling flocks, and keep up a constant noise, each individual now and then emitting a clear note or call. They move with ease on the ground, alight sidewise on the walls of houses and on trees, on the twigs of which they climb with the aid of their bill. When caged they soon become tame, and are fed without any difficulty.
I have presented you with a flock of these Crossbills, composed of individuals of different ages, engaged in their usual occupations, on a branch of their favourite tree, the hemlock pine.
Much has been said and repeated respecting the colours of this species as connected with the differences of sex and age. Accustomed as I am to judge of every thing relating to ornithology on the spot where I can procure specimens, and examine them with all necessary care, I have not failed to employ this method in the present case, and I now give it as my opinion that, although learned naturalists may contradict what I am about to state, it will eventually be acknowledged to be correct. I have shot as many specimens of this Crossbill as I could desire, and on opening perhaps more than sixty, which I should suppose enough to know their sexes, in early spring, summer, autumn and winter, I found the young of the year in July invariably similar to the females which had evidently laid eggs that season, excepting that they were smaller, and had their tints duller. The males, which had either been paired or not that season, but which, however, were older than the first (a fact easily ascertained by the inspection of their stronger bills, legs and claws, and their stronger, harder and tougher flesh), shewed a considerable quantity of red mixed with yellow on the rump, head and breast. Others having equal appearances of age were of a dull olive-yellow, and proved to be females. In such specimens as had the bill very much worn on its edges, and the legs and feet diseased from the adhesion of the resinous matter of the fir trees, on which they spend most of their time, and roost on them at night, were of a bright brick-red in certain lights, changing alternately to carmine or vermilion, on the whole upper parts of the body. Females bearing the same appearances of old age, were as I have represented them in my plate.
Reader, as men may commit errors when most anxious to arrive at the truth, you will greatly oblige me by undertaking a series of observations, similar to those which I have made, and stating the result.
LOXIA CURVIROSTRA, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 299.—_Lath._ Synops. vol. i. p. 361.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 117.
AMERICAN CROSSBILL, CURVIROSTRA AMERICANA, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. iv. p. 44. pl. 21. fig. 1, 2.
COMMON CROSSBILL, _Nuttall_, Manual,