LOXIA LEUCOPTE RA, Gmee.
American White-winged Crossbill.

Loxia leucoptera, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 844.
falcirostra, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 371.
Curvirostra leucoptera, Wils. Amer. Orn.

 

» Vol. iv. p. 48, pl. xxxi. fig. 3, young male.

Tue Gulf-stream has doubtl | lo wi i i
a é ess much to do with the appearance of many American birds on our shores; for
when a straggler is once within its influence, it is borne

of every NG square miles large masses of floating sea-weeds and other substances upon which it may rest,
and where it may procure an abundance of Mollusks, small Crust

In the present instance I have departed from my plan
having been accidentally drawn across the Atlantic,

along not unwillingly, since it finds within a distance

aceans, &c., upon which to subsist.
of not figuring those American species which,

have found shelter in our island. The Belted King-
fisher (Ceryle alcyon), American Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus), and Red-winged St

ceus) have no more connexion with our fauna than the Australian Ce

birds more properly belong to the south than the north ; and those examples which have arrived here have
doubtless been driven to sea during their migration, or by

arling (Agelaius pheni-
reopsis Goose ; even in America these

some accidental cause which cannot be
ascertained. The American White-winged Crossbill has, however, in my opinion, certain claims to be
figured in the ‘ Birds of Great Britain.’ It is a species which, in the New World, goes further north than any
other insessorial bird, except the Wheatear, Redpolls, Pine Grosbeak, Snow and Lapl
as far as any species of Pine is known to exist,—and it is consequently more likely now and then to extend its
visits to that portion of the Old World which lies within the Arctic Circle than either of the comparatively
southern species above referred to; moreover it has undoubtedly been found in our island—a fact I have
verified by an examination of the specimen mentioned by Mr. Yarrell as having been taken in Devonshire ;
and it has usually been confounded with the species called Lowvia bifasciata, the differences between the two
being only known to professed ornithologists. For all these reasons, a representatiou of it cannot fail to be
of service.

and Buntings—certainly

The occurrence of the specimen above alluded to, which is now in the possession of Mr. Van Voorst, is
thus recorded in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1845, p. 91 :—‘ September 23. Edward
Fitton, Esq., exhibited to the meeting a fine male specimen of the White-winged Crossbill (Zowia leucoptera),
in red plumage, which he had picked up dead upon the shore at Exmouth on the 17th inst. It appeared to
have been injured on the back of the head, and to have crept into a crevice of one of the loose fragments of
rock on the shore, where it was found by Mr. Fitton, partly covered with wet sand. The wind at the time
was south-west, and had been blowing hard from north-west to west and south-west for some days.” Mr.
Yarrell states that both himself and Mr. Fitton examined the bird while in the flesh, and that on dissection

it proved to be a male, probably in the second year of its existence. The stomach was empty.

 

In its native country—northern and arctic America—no species is more widely dispersed ; for it is to be
seen in great numbers from Nova Scotia to Labrador, from the Red River to Davis’s Straits, and in the
pine-forests thence to the Pacific it is everywhere to be found.

Sir John Richardson informs us that it ‘‘ inhabits the dense white-spruce forests of the North-American fur
countries, feeding principally on the seeds of the 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
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 Depieniney 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.” :

Audubon “found this species common on the islands near the entrance of the Bay of Fundy early in May
1833. They were then journeying northwards ; but many pass the we ee in the northern parts of the
State of Maine, and the British provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia: those seen on the islands
above-mentioned were observed on their margins, some having alighted on the bare rocks ; and all those

: : . oe ; rate heioht. < »w directly eastward. On
which were alarmed immediately took to wing, rose to a moderate height, and flew y eastwe

§ awrence abrador 1 » same month, about balf-a-dozen White-winged
my passage across the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Labrador in the sa ;

: pear Cas > ards of our vessel, but before we could
Crossbills and as many Mealy Redpolls one day alighted on the top yards

ups atta ae Inited States I have obtained examples
= : : te ph eeall- lo ;. Within the limits of the United
bring our guns from below they all left us

E Tei] River in Pennsvivania: also in New Jersey; and inone
during winter along the hilly shores of the Schuylkil River m Pennsylvania ; als : A

tence in Maryland a few miles from Baltimore, beyond which, southward, I have never met with this
j .