238 THE CROSSBILL BREEDING IN ENGLAND. 



mencement of the nest early in the month of March last. — 

 These three nests were all found in the thick top of a young 

 Scotch fir, of about thirteen or fourteen years' growth. The 

 nest is of grass ; the eggs are beautifully shaped, of an agree- 

 able transparent white, and slightly speckled. In the young 

 birds the crossing of the mandibles was scarcely discoverable, 

 in accordance with the remarks in M. Necker's paper. Such 

 a construction of the bill would indeed be useless, as long as 

 the parent birds supplied the food. The contents of the crop 

 of the young birds appear to consist, almost exclusively, of 

 the blanched seeds of the larch. 



I have thus the pleasure of sending, — 



1. The top of a young Scotch fir, with the nest of a cross- 

 bill in it. 



2. Two of the eggs. 



3. A young bird, (preserved sufficiently to keep a short 

 time), exhibiting the immature state of the beak. 



4. The contents of the crop of the young bird. 



M. Necker de Saussure, in his very agreeable " Memoire 

 sur les Oiseaux des environs de Geneve, 1 " (a work upon a 

 similar plan would be a pleasing addition to English Orni- 

 thology), has given some interesting details respecting the 

 crossbill. 



Hampton Lodge, near Farnham, Surrey ; 

 April, 1839. 



[Conceiving that the above notice would prove extremely interesting to 

 Mr. Yarrell, we forwarded the MS. to him, along with the nest, eggs, and 

 young crossbill : his acknowledgment of their receipt, which we are enabled 

 to subjoin, gives additional value to Mr. Long's communication- — jEd.~\ 



Ryder Street, 22nd April, 1839. 



Dear Sir, 



I am very much obliged by the opportunity 

 you have afforded me of examining the nest, eggs, and young 

 bird of our common crossbill ; and if the following descrip- 

 tions of them are worthy of being appended to the interesting 

 communication forwarded by your correspondent, they are 

 very much at your service. 



The nest is rather small in proportion to the size of the 

 bird, being only four inches and a half across the top, out- 



1 Lu a la Societe de Physique et d' Histoire Naturelle de Geneve, et ex- 

 trait du second volume des Memoires de cette Societe. Reprinted in sm. 

 4to. by Paschaud, Paris and Geneva, 1823. 



