1 88 1 -82.] Edinburgh Naturalists Field Club. 29 



of colours, causing a great disparity even in one flock The young 

 of both sexes are alike at first, speckled, and look like an ex- 

 aggerated specimen of a hen Siskin ; but after moulting some 

 turn green, and others red or carmine-coloured. Females ap- 

 jjarently do not vary so much as males, being of a uniform 

 greenish-grey tint, varying in intensity according to the season ; 

 but the latter are found donning a great variety of shades. Some 

 are very bright red, and others have the red subdued with an 

 admixture of yellow and green. The age of the bird and the time 

 of year in which it was born, no doubt, influence the plumage 

 considerably. For instance, one born in February ought to be 

 better plumaged in autumn than one born in May : perhaps, also, 

 the weather may have some effect. Birds in a cold, wet, and back- 

 ward season can hardly be so brightly j)lumaged as in a warm and 

 genial year ; so in judging of the plumage of the Crossbill, we 

 must take all these little items into consideration. Notwithstand- 

 ing the variations exhibited, none are of so marked a nature as to 

 lead an ornithologist to mistake a Crossbill for any other species, 

 the shape of the head and formation of the mandibles being suffi- 

 cient for identification. The common Linnet [Linota cannabina) is 

 another example of a bird assuming a variety of garbs, giving rise 

 in this case to a varied nomenclature slightly puzzling to the 

 young student of ornithology. Country people, in spite of their 

 opportixnities, are in the great majority of cases very ignorant 

 concerning bird-life, and are convinced in their own minds that the 

 grey, brown, rose, and whin Linnet are different species, whereas 

 they are identical. Young naturalists should be very chary of 

 accepting as fact the opinions of country people, as their notions 

 are generally crude, and very often erroneous. 



The only other point now to be touched on is the construction of 

 the nest. Being usually well hid in a thick Spruce, it is not so 

 often found as would be imagined, considering the great numbers 

 of birds hatched every season. It is composed of small twigs of 

 the Larch, and lined with grass, moss, and fibrous matter, and on 

 the average is rather large, and inartistically constructed. One 

 which I had the good fortune to discover possessed the unusual 

 peculiarity of a semi-roof made of lichen-covered twigs, probably 

 added with an idea of sheltering the young. This formation would 

 seem, however, to be quite exceptional. While wandering through 

 the thick Fir plantations, such as exist in many parts of the High- 

 lands, one often comes quite unexpectedly upon an open space 

 surrounded on all sides by trees, probably in former times the site 

 of an old sawmill or forester's cottage long since decayed, and 

 leaving no trace behind save the grass-grown outlines of its 

 foundations. In such a spot the Crossbills love to congregate on 

 a warm sunshiny day, flying at intervals across the open space, — 



