I9IO Review. 251 



of Goldfinches may also not rarely be seen in autnnm probing the 

 larch-cones ; and the Siskin not only accompanies the Lesser Redpoll 

 in its forays on the larch-grove, but ma}- be seen in spring clinging 

 to the cones of the sprnce-fir and drawing out the winged seeds from 

 beneath their scales. From these facts — the three birds just referred to 

 being practically our smallest and weakest finches — it seems pretty 

 evident that the Crossbill would never have needed its remarkable 

 structural peculiarit)* unless it liad wanted to perform some much more 

 difficult task than that of shelling larch-cones and spruce-cones. 



As was pointed out in an article in this Journal (vol. iii., p. 210), 

 the toughness of the pine-cone, with which no other small bird seems 

 able to grapple in its green state, is probably the Crossbill's raison 

 d'etre. In other words the Parrot-Crossbill represents the older, not 

 the more up-to-date form. An extension in later years of the ranges 

 of trees like the spruce and larch may have led to the Crossbills of 

 certain areas saving themselves the trouble of opening pine-cones, and 

 so degenerating into a type resembling our common Crossbills — though 

 the latter is still quite capable of extracting pine-seeds when it likes. 

 Variation in both directions may, of course, have taken place in later 

 years; but it can scarcely be doubted that the Parrot-Crossbill, if not 

 actually older than the common, is at least the nearer approach of the 

 two to the common ancestor of both. 



Mr. Selous is also severe on a suggestion offered by Mr. Ussher in the 

 "Birds of Ireland'' and elsewhere, that the reds and greens of the 

 Crossbill plumage are protective, harmonising as they do with the hues 

 of the bark and foliage of the Scotch firs. Among the arguments which 

 he urges against this view is the fact that, according to Seebohm, the 

 staple food of the Common Crossbill is the seed of the spruce-fir, whose 

 distribution it is described as following. Mr. Selous thinks it absurd 

 to call on the tints of the pine to explain the colouring of a bird that 

 feeds chiefl}' on the spruce. But as all the races and species of Cross- 

 bill present a very similiar type of coloration, the colours in question 

 must evidently have been evolved by the common parent of them all ; 

 and this, as we have just shown was probably a pine-feeding, and 

 almost certainly not a spruce-feeding bird. The harmonising of 

 the Crossbill's tints with those of Pintis sylvestris is therefore not neces- 

 sarily so devoid of significance so Mr. Selous maintains. 



Enough has been said to show that the succeeding sections of this 

 work, in which such leading ornithologists as Messrs. W. P. P3-craft, 

 E. L. Turner and P\ C. R. Jourdain are participating as main con- 

 tributors, may be expected to prove a welcome boon to the bird-loving 

 world. No cost or pains seems to have been spared over the prepar- 

 ation of the coloured plates. In particular, Mr. Seaby's presentation 

 of the Raven strikes the reviewer as lifelike and majestic in the 

 extreme. 



C B. M. 



