Within the limits of the United States, I have obtained some during winter along the hilly shores of the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania; also in New Jersey, and in one instance in Maryland, a few miles from Baltimore, beyond which southward I have never met with this species, nor have I heard of any having been seen there. According to Dr Townsend, who resided about four years on the Columbia River, none are met with in that region. As it appears that individuals accidentally visit Europe, I am led to think that the true summer haunts of this species are as yet not better known than those of the Bohemian Chatterer and Common Crossbill. The latter has been shot in winter by my son John Woodhouse, within a few miles of Charleston in South Carolina, where several were seen, and the specimen he procured there is now in the collection of my friend the Reverend John Bachman.
The southward migration of this Crossbill, as well as of the other, is extremely irregular. Being evidently hardy birds, they appear to prefer northern to temperate climates, and to shift their station only during the most severe cold. The comparatively small number that spend the year in Maine and the British Provinces adjoining, may be forced to do so by wounds or other accidents, as in general I have found them moving toward the north as soon as the chill blasts of winter were tempered by the warmer rays of the vernal sun.
The habits of the White-winged Crossbill are in general similar to those of our common species. Its flight is well sustained and undulated; it is easily approached, is fond of saline substances, uses its bill and feet in the manner of Parrots, and procures its food from the cones of pines. Its song is at times mellow and agreeable, and in captivity it becomes gentle and familiar.
Mr Hutchins says that this species reaches Hudson’s Bay in the month of March, and breeds in May, forming a nest of grass, mud, and feathers, about midway up pine trees, and laying five white eggs, marked with yellowish spots. The young are abroad in the end of June, and the species remains in that country until the latter part of November. Dr Richardson states that it “inhabits the dense white spruce forests of the Fur Countries, feeding principally on the seeds of cones. It ranges through the whole breadth of the continent, and probably up to the sixty-eighth parallel, where the woods terminate, though it was not observed by us higher than the sixty-second. It is mostly seen on the upper branches of the trees, and, when wounded, clings so fast, that it will remain suspended after death. In September it collects in small flocks, which fly from tree to tree, making a chattering noise; and in the depth of winter it retires from the coast to the thick woods of the interior.”
Loxia leucoptera, Gmel. Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 844.
Loxia falcirostra, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 371.
White-winged Crossbill, Loxia leucoptera, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. iv. p. 48, pl. 41, fig. 4. Male.
White-winged Crossbill, Ch. Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith vol. ii. pl. 14, fig. 3. Female.
Loxia leucoptera, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 117.
Loxia leucoptera, White-winged Crossbill, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 263.