CROSSBILL. A bird of the genus Loxia, large finches with a singular bill. the mandibles —which are rather long, thick at the base, and nmeh curved—crossing each .other at the points when the bill is closed. These mandibles are ca pable not merely of vertical. but of lateral motion, and muscles of extraordinary power are provid ed for moving them: so that the crossbills read ily obtain thei• principal food—the seeds of firs and pines—by tearing off the scales of the cones. They bring the points of the mandibles together (which they can do so as to pick up a very small seed) and insert then) into the cone, when the act of allowing the points to slip past ono an other exerts a powerful latentl movement, open ing the scale; and the tongue, width terminates in a singular movable scoop, formed of a bone articulated to the os hyoides, or ordinary bone of the tongue, is inserted to detach the seed.
The power of the bill is such that wood may he torn to pieces. and in confinement seem to take a mischievous pleasure in destroying the cage. An apple is cut to pieces almost ill an instant, in order that its seeds may be and flocks of these birds sometimes do great mischief in orchards. Three or four species are
known, two of which are found in America. al though only one, the common red crossbill (Loxia currirostra), is numerous, and even this in most years is scarcely to he seen in the United States. lt is a native of Europe. Asia, and North Ameri ea, dwelling chiefly in evergreen forests and ex tending as far north as they do, not dreading the coldest climates. The American bird is gen e•ally regarded as a subspecies, and a second subspecies is found from the southern Rocky Mountain region to central Mexico. The white winged erossbill (Lo•ia lrucoptera) is the other American species, but is not so common as the preceding. Both species are red in the males and olive-brown in the females, the former species with blackish wings and the latter having wings crossed by two conspicuous white bars. They go about in small. chattering flocks, and are resi dent in the most northern parts of the United States and in Canada. They breed in the late winter or early spring. sometimes during very severe weather.