Part 27

Erratic wanderers which travel on no fixed schedule but seem to feel at home wherever they find themselves. Except when nesting, they usually live in small flocks which, if the fare of our feeding-stands please them, will sometimes live with us for weeks. The call-note is creak-creak, the song a flowing, musical warble often uttered in detached fragments. Four to six bluish, spotted eggs are laid in May; the nest being generally built in a coniferous tree.

ENGLISH SPARROW; HOUSE SPARROW

Passer domesticus domesticus. Case 2, Figs. 30, 31; Case 4, Figs. 38, 39

Unfortunately too well known to require description. L. 6-1/2.

Range. First introduced into this country at Brooklyn, N.Y., from Europe in 1851; now found everywhere at all times.

Hardy, pugnacious and adaptable, the Sparrow is a notable success in the bird world. We could overlook his objectionable traits if he possessed a pleasant voice, but his harsh, discordant notes and incessant chatter are unfortunately in harmony with his character. After all he gives a welcome touch of life to city streets and yards. 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. 6-1/4.

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.

Washington, irregular W.V., sometimes abundant. Ossining, irregular; noted in almost every month. Cambridge, of common but irregular occurrence at all seasons. N. Ohio, irregular, often common, sometimes breeds. Glen Ellyn, uncommon and irregular, Oct. 20-June 11. SE. Minn., W.V., Oct. 25.

Crossbills and Grosbeaks are among winter's chief attractions. While the latter, as I have said above, will leave their summer homes in coniferous forests to feed in winter on the seeds of deciduous trees, the Crossbills are less adaptable. They are specialists in cone-dissecting. Their singularly shaped bills prevent them from eating many kinds of food available to other birds, but no other birds can compete with them in extracting the seeds from cones. Having had too limited an experience with man to have learned to fear him, they are so surprisingly tame that I have known birds to be plucked from trees as one would pick off the cones on which they were feeding. In March, while the ground is still snow-covered, they lay 3-4 pale greenish, spotted eggs in a well-formed nest, 15-30 feet up in a coniferous tree.

WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL

Loxia leucoptera. Case 2, Figs. 51, 52

Both sexes have white wing-bars and the male is of a paler, more rosy red than the male of the American Crossbill.

Range. Nests from northern New England to Canada; winters irregularly to southern Illinois and North Carolina.

Washington, casual. Ossining, rare T.V., Oct. 29-Dec. 6, Cambridge, irregular W.V. N. Ohio, rare W.V. Glen Ellyn, rare, fall records only, Nov. SE. Minn., W.V., latest record Mch. 4.

A rarer bird than the American Crossbill which, however, it resembles in habits. Both climb about the branches of cone-bearing trees like little Parrots, while feeding keep up a low conversational chatter, and take wing with a clicking note. They have been found nesting in Nova Scotia as early as February 6.

REDPOLL

Acanthis linaria linaria. Case 2. Figs. 47, 48

Any little sparrow-like bird with a red cap is a Redpoll. Adult males have the breast also red. L. 5-1/2.

Range. Nests in Canada and Alaska; winters irregularly south ward to Ohio and Virginia.

Washington, very rare and irregular W.V. Ossining, regular W.V., Nov. 25-Mch. 26. Cambridge, irregular W.V., often very abundant, Oct. 25-Apl. 10. N. Ohio, rare W.V. Glen Ellyn, irregular W.V., Nov. 6-Mch. 7. SE. Minn., common W.V., Oct. 31-Apl. 7.

A winter visitor from the far North whose coming never can be foretold. Years may pass without seeing them, then late some fall, they may appear in numbers. They are usually in flocks and feed upon seeds as well as birch and alder catkins. In notes and general habits the Redpoll resembles the Goldfinch.

Holboell's Redpoll (A. holboelli) is a slightly larger race, with a longer, more slender bill. It is a more northern form than the preceding, and rarely visits the United States. The Greater Redpoll (A. l. rostrata) is also larger than the common Redpoll, but has a shorter, stouter bill. It nests in Greenland and is of casual occurrence in the northern United States. The Hoary Redpoll (A. hornemanni exilipes) is a whiter bird than the preceding with no streaks on the rump and comparatively few on the underparts. It nests within the Arctic Circle and rarely visits the northern United States in winter.

Satisfactory identification of these races of the Redpoll can be made only by expert examination of specimens. The field student, however, may call any Redpoll he sees the Common Redpoll with the chances of being right largely in his favor.

GOLDFINCH

Astragalinus tristis tristis. Case 2. Figs. 35, 36; Case 4, Figs. 50, 51