This remarkable bird being once seen, the most superficial observer can never afterwards be mistaken, as to the genus to which it belongs. The upper and lower mandibles of the bill cross one another about one-third from the tip. Showing a preserved specimen of this bird to an honest Hibernian one day, after examining it all over, and trying to straighten the bill, he exclaimed, "Sure that bird must have died of a lock-jaw." He is a visitant from the north, like the former, and, although a smaller bird, he probably does as much execution among the pine cones, with his powerful lever bill, as the other. He is equally unsuspicious, and you may walk close up, and look at him at work, clinging to the cones like a Parrot, or Woodpecker, sometimes head up, and sometimes down, but, like the other, giving evidence of his work by the husks which are flying around him. In a cage they are very amusing birds, clinging round the wires like a parrot, and in a short time may be made so tame as to be carried anywhere on the finger. The male has a pleasant note, which is improved by his being kept in a cage. There is another of this genus, found in America, the White Winged Crossbill, but it is rarely found in the New England States, and is no songster.

Food

Feed them on the same food as the Pine Grossbeaks.

Characteristics Of The Sexes

The male and female, in plumage, nearly the same as the Pine Grossbeak.

Location

Found throughout the Northern States, in winter. Also, in the North of Europe, there Resident.