The Scottish Naturalist. 249 



really Pine - Grosbeaks. It is now a great many years ago, 

 some time in early winter, that I observed at Butterstone Loch, 

 near Dunkeld, not far from the road, several birds (about five or 

 six in number), most of them of a bright red colour, feeding on 

 some young larch- trees. They were so very much larger than 

 either the Bullfinch or the Crossbill, that my attention was at 

 once attracted to them ; but as there is no record of their having 

 been observed, either before or since, even if right in my con- 

 jectures, their appearance must be held to be purely accidental. 



69. LoxiA cuRviROSTRA, Linn. (Crossbill.) 



The Crossbill, I believe, is to be found more or less every year 

 somewhere in the district. Some years it has been known to 

 visit us in countless numbers — a remarkable instance of which 

 occurred in my own recollection in the year 1838, which was a 

 wonderful year for the superabundance of cones on the spruce- 

 trees : " We were visited in the Carse of Gowrie by hundreds of 

 Crossbills, and many were seen in the following year, but not in 

 such numbers. I have never seen them in the same locality 

 since, or have I ever again noticed the cones to be anything 

 like in the same quantity as they were that year."^ As mentioned 

 by Mr Horn, I have frequently noticed these birds in the Dum- 

 fallinday fir-woods, near Pitlochrie, in the months of February 

 and March, at which time, being an early breeder, they were no 

 doubt nesting:. 



'&• 



LoxiA LEUCOPTERA, Gmcl. (American White-winged Crossbill.) 



Some few years ago, what I took to be the American White- 

 winged Crossbill was seen by me in the Kinfauns woods, near 

 Perth, in a small party of six or seven ; but I was unable to 

 obtain a specimen. Knowing the bird well in Nova Scotia, I 

 hardly think I could be mistaken. 



70. LiNOTA CANNABINA, Bouap. (Linnet.) 



This bird is particularly abundant throughout the district at all 

 seasons. Not only do we see them in pairs on our roadsides and 

 moorlands in the summer months, but also are they common 

 in winter, congregated in large flocks in many of our fields, 

 industriously searching for their food, small seeds, of which they 

 find a bountiful supply in that of the Sheep's Sorrel {Rumex 



^ Scottish Naturalist, vol. iv. p. 97. /''^^•^^ 



t»SMv 



I. I B n & Bi 



