2$ The hish Naturalist. 



Professor Bottomley, of the Yorkshire College, Leeds, has 

 recentl}^ published a useful little brochure on this subject, 

 showing that the lantern can be successfully used in a fairly" 

 lighted room, and states that it is used in nearly all the lecture 

 rooms of that institution ; a special hand being constantly 

 emploj'ed in producing the various slides required by the 

 diflerent teachers. 



THE CROSSBILL {LOXIA CURVIROSTRA, L.) 



IN IRELAND. 



BY R. J. USSHKR. 



( Continued from p. 9.) 



CrossbiIvLS need water, and may frequentl}' be seen flying 

 down from ni}' hill plantations to the stream and drinking there. 

 On the 4th July last, as I approached my house, I heard an old 

 Crossbill uttering his call-note as he sat sentinel on the top 

 of a silver fir. Five others then alighted on the roof of the 

 house over the kitchen 3'ard, and drank from the eave-gutters 

 which held water since the previous da3^'s rain. They took no 

 notice of me. 



This tameness or indifference to man's presence seems to 

 show that the ancestors of this race of birds have lived beyond 

 the range of human persecution ; but let a Sparrow Hawk 

 appear, and the}^ are immediately on the wing, performing 

 lofty flights with angry notes. I have attempted to put up a 

 flock to show a friend their flight, etc., while we stood beneath 

 the trees where they were feeding, but though we shouted and 

 flung stones into the air the}^ would not stir. Nor let it be 

 supposed that they shrink from the vicinit}^ of a house, if only 

 it be surrounded b}" haunts to their liking. On the top of a hill 

 here stands an inhabited house surrounded by masses of old 

 Scotch firs and larches ; this spot, called the Giant's Rock, 

 has been the chief resort of Crossbills. I have leaned against 

 the house and watched them feeding within a few^ 3'ards, nor 

 were they alarmed when people talked and dogs barked 

 beneath them. Na}', of the five nests discovered, three were 

 within vShort distances of this house, one being in the top of a 

 low fir over the ver}' pathwa}' that led from the house to the 

 offices where animals were kept, and close to the latter build- 

 ings. The birds used to pick up materials and carry them to 

 their nest while observers stood b}'. I once set men to erect 

 a wire fence beside the trees containing a Crossbill's nest. 

 The female, which was probably la3'ing, sat for a long time on 

 one of these trees calmly gazing at the men, and not betra^'ing 

 an}- uneasiness. More than once on my ascending trees to 



