4 1 4 Habits and personal Characteristics 



heard them before I saw them; and I soon, by the hearing 

 of them, discovering where they were, proceeded up to the 

 trees they were upon, to make what observations I could on 

 them. 



They were in a flock of about thirty, dispersed on a few 

 of the larch trees, and all near together : those on the same 

 trees in very close companionship indeed. They seemed en- 

 tirely occupied in getting at their food, which consists, as 

 every one knows, of the seeds of the larch, that is, in the 

 winter season ; for in the summer they do much mischief, as 

 we are informed, by pecking out the seed of the apple and 

 other fruits. Having, probably, been but little ever disturbed 

 in the recesses of their native forests, they were at first ex- 

 ceedingly tame. Mr. Martin informed me that, when he 

 first observed them, they allowed him to fire at them several 

 times, and to load his gun after each shot, without their leav- 

 ing the tree they were upon, though some of their number 

 were killed each time : so little accustomed did they appear to 

 the sight of a gun, and so little acquainted with its murderous 

 use. The morning that I saw them, however, they evidently 

 had become a little more wary, though still more tame than 

 any other wild birds I had ever seen before. The fir planta- 

 tion occupied three sides of an oblong; and the only remove 

 they made after each shot was from one end to the other, 

 backwards and forwards, as they were driven. In about eight 

 shots we succeeded in procuring eighteen specimens, and 

 might have obtained more had we wished it, though they ob- 

 viously were becoming more shy. The sexes appeared to be 

 in about equal numbers, as we found nine of each among the 

 slain. No two specimens of each are certainly exactly similar, 

 though there is not so much difference between them as I had 

 been led to imagine. The colours of some of each kind are 

 brighter than those of others; and this is chiefly seen in the male 

 birds, which vary, also, considerably in size — more, I think, 

 than do the females ; and in some of the males there is much 

 more orange colour, mixed in a party-coloured way with the 

 red over the tail, than in others. It will not be necessary for 

 me to enter into more particulars respecting the plumage of 

 the crossbill, which has been so often described already ; ex- 

 cept that I may mention, that the female, in general appear- 

 ance, is very much like the female greenfinch ; but it is a little 

 larger in size. I have forgotten to mention in the right place, 

 when speaking of their note, that it is much more similar to 

 that of the brown linnet (only louder, and, therefore, more 

 attractive of the attention; otherwise one might, perhaps, 

 think it the note of the linnet), than that of the greenfinch 



