Bird Biographies

								

long time without their taking any notice of one's presence. They are
slow and deliberate in manner. Their flight, however, is rather rapid
and aggressive, slightly undulating."[14]
They are silent, uninteresting birds, awkward in their movements. They
are very hardy, and roam southward when the severe Canadian winters send
them forth in search of food. Seeds of cone-bearing trees, sumac and
mountain ash berries are their favorite winter diet. They return to
their northern nesting places when few birds would consider it seemly to
set up housekeeping.

                     THE AMERICAN OR RED CROSSBILL

                      Finch Family--Fringillidæ

Length: A little over 6 inches; slightly larger than the English

    sparrow.
General Appearance: A small, plump red bird, with brown wings, brown

    forked tail, and a bill crossed at the tip.
Male: Head and body a dull red, brownish on the back, and bright red

    above tail; wings brown, without white bars; tail brown and

    notched; bill with long strong mandibles that are crossed somewhat

    like a parrot's.
Female: Head and body dull olive, with a yellowish wash--brightest on

    rump; head, back, and under parts mottled with black.
Call-note: A short, clear, metallic whistle.
Song: A gentle warble, varied, and agreeable to hear.
Flight: Undulating.
Habitat: Coniferous forests, preferably.
Range: Northern North America. Breeds from central Alaska, and northern

    Canada south to the mountains of California, to Colorado, Michigan,

    and in the Alleghanies of Georgia, occasionally in Massachusetts,

    Maryland, and Virginia.
Red Crossbills are truly the "Wandering Jews" of the bird-world. They
are erratic nomads, living in flocks, and roaming where fancy leads or
necessity impels them. They pitch their tents and raise their broods
wherever they may happen to be sojourning in late winter or early
spring, even though many miles south of their natural breeding places.
Dr. Elliot Coues writes: "Their most remarkable habit is that of
breeding in the winter, or very early in the spring, when one would
think it impossible that their callow young could endure the rigors of
the season." He mentions a nest taken in Maine in February, and another
in Vermont so early in March that the ground was covered with snow and
the weather was very severe.[15]
They make no regular migrations, spring or fall, but like
will-o'-the-wisps appear and vanish, affording one of the most
delightful surprises to be found in nature. To see one of them,
accompanied by his olive-green mate, swinging from a spruce bough
against a flaming sunset sky or a snowy landscape, is an event in one's
life.
Crossbills are denizens of coniferous forests. Their twisted or crossed
bills are peculiarly adapted to extracting seeds from pine and spruce
cones, though they eat berries, fruit, grass seeds, and cankerworms in