liar manners attracted his attention ; he fired, and killed one,
which proved to be a White-winged Crossbill; but the more
fortunate survivors did not allow him an opportunity of repeating
the experiment.
Professor Nilsson, in his Scandinavian Fauna, says, writing
from Lund, “ Not more than , two specimens of this
pretty little Crossbill have, been taken with us ; but it appears
that they are-not unfrequently seen in central Sweden among
the Crossbills which arrive in the months of October and
November. Its manners are like those of the : other Crossbills,
but i,t has a different call-note, and a different song.”
This species appears to be more numerous in North America
than in any other p a rt; and to the --publications of Ornithologists
in that country I must refer ;for vthe particulars,
of the habits of this bird; which are not to "observed here,
“ This species,” says Charles Lucian- Bonaparte, Prince of
Musignano, in the second volume of his Ornithology of America,
in continuation of Wilson,- page 88, inhabits during
summer the remotest, regions of North America, and it :is.
therefore extraordinary that it should, not-have been found in
thé analogous climatés of the old continent.* In this/ derange
is widely extended, as we can trace it from Labrador,
westward to Fort d e ja Fourche, in latitude'56% Ntho^federa
of Peace River, and Montagu Island on the North West
coast, where it was found- by Dixon. Round Hudson’s Bay
it is common, and well known,, probably extending far torthe
north west, as Mackensie appears to allude to it when speak-
ing of thé only .land bird found in the desolate regions he
was exploring, which enlivened with its agreeable notes the
deep and silent forests of those; frozen tracts. I t is common
* C. L.. Bonaparte was not then aware of the memoir of M._G. Gloger,.which
appeared in the fourteenth volume of the Nova Acta, published at Bonne in
1828, the same-year in which the second volume tif the Ornithology was published
in Philadelphia.
on the* borders of Lake Ontario, and descends in autumn and
winter into Canada, and the Northern and Middle States.
Its migrations,^however,-are very irregular. They are seldom
observed elsewhere than in- pine swamps and forests, feeding
almost exclusively bn the d e ed s'o f these frees, together with
a fèw’befriêh/ All if fee specimens I obtained had their crops
filled to .excess’ entirely with-the small seeds of Pinus inops.
They, kept in ‘.flocks of from ’ twenty to fifty, when alarmed
suddenly taking- wing all at'-ohëë*, and after a little1' mancem
vring in thexair,fgënerally alighting again n early-’ on the same
pines»lwhdf@i>'< thfey• 4iad s'ëir'! of adorning the naked
branches bf sompy’di/tant, higKf4 and^inSulated/freéV Iii the
-countries wteifebtfiey pass the summer/ Wéy^bnildlilüii nest§
on the limb of a pitfi^ to>vards|®e’ Centre ; it islëomposëd of
grasses and- earth; and lined internally with feather'sf Thé
female lays/Sve eggs; which •ar&iwfHte^ 'spotted wifh^yèllówish.
-The -youngid%y^ffeéfhdst in JuntèJ and are sbon able tb'join
the patent'd) in their autfimnal mi^ration; Ind&~ndrthern
’' èouiïtrfesy wheröt®esfe^ifds''4i'F^TO^'vnumeroUs; whe'n a a e ^
snow has-êblvtet*ë,d>fthte ground; they appear to WshAall '%èm¥e
of danger/tfflnd^by Spreading %ome favouriiè föoÖ; mSyT^e
knocked’.down with sticks, of^eten caught by 1 hand' while
busily -engaged in feeding; Their manners are al'sb in other
fies-pbets. very similar to those of the Common Crossbill.”
Dr. Richardson States that "this* bird a inhabits the dense
whitfei’Spruce forests of’th e ’North AtóèTÉda# fur ebufftries,
feeding principallyiplndhb;AeMlSv of cones. I t ranges through
the whole breadthiibf ’ the continent, arid probably up t d the
sixty-eighth parallel, Where Hhfe ‘Webds terminate; thbUgh if
swas not obsbrved»;by Ah- higher than' the” sixty-Sbcond. It ip
mostly seen on the upper branches the trees, and when
woTinded, ‘clings^p iasï, thatAt will remain suspended after
death. In September it -aöllecbê dn small flocks,-which fly
from free to tree, making , a chattering noise; and in the