Crossbill

“ The big woodpecker was heard, not seen. And while I stood still, hoping that he would repeat himself, and possibly show himself, I heard a chorus of crossbill notes,—like the cries of barnyard chickens a few weeks old,—and, looking up, descried the authors of them, a flock of ten birds flying across the valley. They were not new, even to my Pulaski notebook, but they [181] gave me, for all that, an exhilarating sensation of unexpectedness. Crossbills are associated in my mind with Massachusetts winters and New Hampshire summers and autumns. ”

“ The common crossbill of the Palaearctic region (Loxia curvirostra) is about the size of a skylark, but more stoutly built. The young (which on leaving the nest have not the tips of the bill crossed) are of a dull olive colour with indistinct dark stripes on the lower parts, and the quills of the wings and tail dusky. After the first moult the difference between the sexes is shown by the hens inclining to yellowish-green, while the cocks become diversified by orange-yellow and red, their plumage finally deepening into a rich crimson-red, varied in places by a flame-colour. ”

“ The Crossbill troubles itself but little about the other inhabitants of the woods, and is said to be almost fearless of man. Should the male lose his mate, he will remain sorrowfully perched upon the branch from which his little companion has fallen ”

“ Yet to-day—so self-contradictory a creature is man—there were some things I missed. The dreamer was still a hobbyist, and the hobbyist had been in the Lonesome Lake woods before; and he wondered what had become of the crossbills. The common red ones were always here, I should have said, and on more than one visit I had found the rarer and lovelier white-winged species. Now, in all the forest chorus, not a crossbill’s note was audible. ”

“ That the Crossbill sometimes breeds in this country there cannot be a doubt, but it does this only as an exception to the general rule; the nest, which has been found at various seasons, has been described as of a loose texture, not unlike that of the Common Greenfinch, though not nearly so well nor so carefully built; the eggs also are not unlike those of that bird but larger. In Norway and Sweden, where the bird habitually breeds, the nest is built in the uppermost branches of the pines and firs ”

“ At all times of the year the crossbill is gregarious in its habits. Throughout the summer it is seen in small parties; when the breeding season is over these begin to move about, accompanied by the young birds, and join with other parties, and as the season progresses the flock grows by process of accretion until it may number many hundreds. At this season they [146] are remarkably tame, and will allow a person to approach within a few yards and admire their colours and various motions as they cling to and climb, parrot-like, about the twigs in search of seed and fruit. ”

“ A Crossbill can fly with a fir-cone in its mouth, which is one proof of the strength of those powerful mandibles, if, indeed, proof were wanted. My Crossbills favoured me with no music until Christmas Day, when for the first time one of them was heard to utter a loud chirp. When bought on July 6th they were in red male plumage; by Christmas Day one of them had become quite yellow, but the other two cocks had changed but little, though the brightness of their red had diminished since October. Bechstein says many are bred in aviaries in Thuringia, but never acquire the red colour in confinement. ”

“ The reason of its irregularity in visiting our shores is that the crossbill is one of those species that do not go farther from home than they are compelled by severe cold and scarcity of food. Driven from home they become ‘gipsy migrants,’ and may be very abundant with us one year, and not one appear the following season, or for several seasons. ”

“ The New World has two birds of the genus. The first (L. americana) , representing the common British species, but with a smaller bill, and the males easily recognizable by their more scarlet plumage, ranges from the northern limit of coniferous trees to the highlands of Mexico, or even farther. The other (L. leucoptera) is the equivalent of the two-barred crossbill, but smaller. It has twice occurred in England. ”

“ Crossbills are a kind of gypsies among birds, and one ought not to be astonished, I suppose, at meeting them almost anywhere. Some days after this (May 12) , in the national cemetery at Arlington (across the Potomac from Washington) , I glanced up into a low spruce-tree in response to the call of an orchard oriole, and there, at work upon the cones, hung a flock of five crossbills, three of them in red plumage. ”

“ That rare bird, the crossbill, occasionally visits the orchards in our neighbourhood, coming in little parties to feed on the seeds of the apple, and, seldom as it appears, it is always noticed by the mischief it does to the fruit, cutting it asunder with its well constructed mandibles, in order to obtain the kernels. ”

“ Depending mainly for food on the seeds of conifers, the movements of crossbills are irregular beyond those of most birds, and they would seem to rove in any direction and at any season in quest of their staple sustenance. ”

“ I give the story for what it is worth; and I may further mention that, especially in September, the birds were comparatively common in the same locality, and the man brought me a very brightly coloured male, and said he believed it was the same sort of bird he had seen in the summer. As the female Crossbill is of a greenish yellow colour, there is a possibility—perhaps very vague, some would say—of the man being correct about the species nesting in the trees near his house. ”

“ Only in a few cases—namely, in those of the autumn and winter song of a few resident species—are we unable to assign to song a positive importance for the preservation of species or individual. But the caution needed in dealing with these negative instances is well shown by the example of the Crossbill. It is common to quote this bird as an example of abnormal habit in the physiological sense, since it usually pairs and sings in December and January, breeds in February, and hatches its young in March. ”

“ On the approach of evening many of these flocks unite, and before going to roost this immense body may be seen traversing, with undulating sweeps and evolutions, the immediate neighbourhood of their resting-place. They prefer for this purpose secluded and warm situations, such as thickly set reedbeds, coppices, or plantations of fir."—J.E. Palmer (Lucan, Co. Dublin) .
Crossbill Nesting near Bournemouth.—On March 16th a nest of the Crossbill was found by some boys in a fir tree on the outskirts of the town of Bournemouth. ”

“ Their crossed bills, which furnish them their common name, are their most noticeable and interesting characteristic. It is a spectacle as pretty as it is curious to see one take the seeds from the cone of a fir tree. The hooked upper mandible serves to catch hold of and tear out the seed, while the lower one is a receptacle for it. With the red crossbill is sometimes seen the white species, which is much the rarer visitant of the two.
But if mention is to be made of any representative winter birds, we must notice the chickadee. ”

“ The common Red Crossbill of America is a bird of very irregular distribution, abundant in some places at certain seasons, and again rarely seen for several years. It is a Northern species, found in summer chiefly in the more northern portions of the United States, and also found throughout the year in the Alleghanies, in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, to Georgia. A closely allied variety is also found in the alpine regions of Vera Cruz and other departments of Mexico. ”

“ Whether the traditional salt that may have stuck to the bird's tail is responsible for its tameness is not related, but it is certain the crossbills, like most bird visitors from the far north, are remarkably gentle, friendly little birds. As they swing about the pine trees, parrot-fashion, with the help of their bill, calling out kimp, kimp, that sounds like the snapping of the pine cones on a sunny day, it often seems easily possible to catch them with the hand. ”

“ Synonym.—Red Crossbill.
Description.—Adult male: Tips of mandibles crossed either way; plumage red, brightest on rump; feathers of back with brownish centers; wings and tail fuscous. Shade of red very variable,—orange, cinnabar, even vermilion, sometimes toned down by a saffron suffusion. Immature males sometimes present a curiously mottled appearance with chrome-green and red intermingled. Female and young: Dull olive-green, brighter and more yellow on head and rump; below gray overcast by dingy yellow. Adult male, length 5.50-6.25 (139.7-158.8) ”

“ They are thus chief among seed-eaters, and for this reason are not so migratory as insect-eating species.” Many of the birds most highly prized for the cage and as songsters are representatives of this family and many of the species are greatly admired for their beautiful coloring. The White-Winged Crossbill is a native of the northern part of North America, migrating southward into the United States during the winter months. ”

“ The bill varies considerably in this species, and many individuals, which have a very stout bill, have been considered and named as a separate species, known as the Parrot Crossbill. These stout-billed individuals are most numerous in Scandinavia and Northern Russia, though they have been also obtained in this country, and their claim to specific rank is still a debatable point. ”

“ Sparrows' nests are made of almost anything the birds can carry and built in any place that will hold them. The 4-7 finely speckled eggs are laid as early as March, and several broods are raised.
AMERICAN CROSSBILL
Loxia curvirostra minor. Case 2 Figs. 49, 50
Crossbills have the mandibles crossed; the absence of wing-bars distinguishes this species from the usually less common White-winged Crossbill. L. 61⁄4.
Range. Nests from northern New England to Canada and southward in the Alleghanies to northern Georgia. Winters irregularly southward, rarely as far as Florida and Louisiana. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Accordingly in some parts of Bavaria, Saxony, and Bohemia people keep crossbills in cages in order that the red birds may draw the red St. Antony’s fire and the inflammation of fever to themselves and so relieve the human patient. Often in a peasant’s cottage you may see the red bird in its cage hanging beside a sick-bed and drawing to itself the hectic flush from the cheeks of the hot and restless patient, who lies tossing under the blankets. And the dried body of a crossbill has only to be placed on a wound to stop the bleeding at once. ”

“ There is an odd superstition connected with the crossbill, in Thuringia, which makes the wood-cutters very careful of the nests. This bird in captivity is subject to many diseases, such as weak eyes, swelled and ulcerated feet, etc., arising probably from the heat and accumulated vapors of the stove-heated rooms where they are kept. The Thuringian mountaineer believes that these wretched birds can take upon themselves any diseases to which he is subject, and always keeps some near him. ”

“ The inference is that the eggs are laid late in the season, a fact which the analogy furnished by kindred species would scarcely have suggested.
3. Loxia leucoptera. White-winged Crossbill.—Mr. Frazar met with these Crossbills on all the islands of the Magdalen group, where they were among the most abundant of the land birds. At the time of his arrival (June 6) they had already collected in large flocks which were composed chiefly of young birds and females, a company of fifty or more often containing only one or two males in red plumage. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Though only occasional visitors with us, Crossbills are plentiful in Germany, Bavaria, Sweden, and Norway all the year round, and are occasionally mischievous in orchards and gardens, on account of their partiality to the seeds of apples, which they reach by splitting the fruit with one or two blows of their stout bills. ”

“ After drawing two figures of the female White-winged Crossbill, I paid a visit to the country seat of Mr. Jones. [224] The snow is still to be seen in patches on every hill around us; the borders of the water courses are edged with grasses and weeds as rank of growth as may be seen in the Middle States in like situations. I saw a small brook filled with fine trout; but what pleased me best, I found a nest of the Shore Lark; it was embedded in moss so much the color of the birds, that when these sit on it, it is next to impossible to observe them ”

“ Practically all our winter birds seem to come in fewer numbers and less frequently and regularly than formerly, though even in those early days such eccentric creatures as the Bohemian Waxwings, Crossbills, and to a lesser extent the Pine Grosbeaks, could never be depended on.
Formerly we always found the Crossbills in winter, not at any other season, while now about Bangor both species of Crossbill occur more commonly and regularly as summer birds in May, June, July and August. 51
Birds of the Boston Public Garden. Birds of the Boston Public Garden. A Study in Migration. ”