The same peculiarities of irregular appearance have been observed by Mr. Allen, in Springfield, where it is often a very abundant visitor, but generally not so common. In the winter of 1859-60 the pine woods in the vicinity of that city abounded with them, and in February they were already in full song. They are at all times gregarious, and are sometimes seen in large flocks.
They have, as they fly, a loud, peculiar, and not unmusical cry. This call-note they do not utter when at rest or when feeding. Their song in the spring and summer is varied and pleasing, but is not powerful, or in any respect remarkable. This song is especially noticeable in caged birds, who soon become very tame, and feed readily from the hand, even when taken at an adult age. Their manners in confinement are very like those of the Parrots, clinging to the top of the wires with their claws, hanging with their heads downward, and, when feeding, holding their food in one claw. On the trees, their habits and manner are also said to be similar to those of Parrots.
Mr. Audubon has found these birds, in August, in the pine woods of Pennsylvania, and inferred that they breed there. This does not necessarily follow. They breed so early at the north as to give ample time for their migrations, even in midsummer, to remote places. Professor Baird, however, informs me that during a summer spent in the mountains of Schuylkill County, Penn., in the coal region, he saw them nearly every day, moving about or feeding, in pairs.
The Crossbills are extremely gentle and social, are easily approached, caught in traps, and even knocked down with sticks. Their food is chiefly the seeds of the Coniferæ, and also those of plants. Audubon’s statement that they destroy apples merely to secure the seeds is hardly accurate. They are extravagantly fond of this fruit, and prefer the flesh to its seeds. Their flight is undulating, somewhat in the manner of the Goldfinch, firm, swift, and often protracted. As they fly, they always keep up the utterance of their loud, clear call-notes. They move readily on the ground, up or down the trunks and limbs of trees, and stand as readily with their heads downward as upright.
Wilson states that in the interior of Pennsylvania this species appears in large flocks in the winter, and during the prevalence of deep snows they keep about the doors of dwellings, pick off the clay with which these huts are plastered, and are exceedingly tame and not easily driven off.
So far as is known, these Crossbills breed in midwinter, or very early in the spring, when the weather is the most inclement. The nest and eggs of this species were procured by Mr. Charles S. Paine, in East Randolph, Vt., early in the month of March. The nest was built in an upper branch of an elm,—which, of course, was leafless,—the ground was covered with snow, and the weather severe. The birds were very tame and fearless, refusing to leave their eggs, and had to be several times taken off by the hand. After its nest had been taken, and as Mr. Paine was descending with it in his hand,
the female again resumed her place upon it, to protect her eggs from the biting frost. The eggs were four in number, and measured .85 by .53 of an inch. They have a greenish-white ground and are beautifully blotched, marbled, and dotted with various shades of lilac and purplish-brown.
Loxia curvirostra, var. mexicana, Strickland.
MEXICAN CROSSBILL.
Loxia mexicana, Strickland, Jardine Contrib. Orn. 1851, 43.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 365.—Ib. 1864, 174, City of Mexico.—Salvin, Ibis, 1866, 193 (Guatemala).