CROSSBILL 193 



such like bird ; and the thinge most to be noted was, 

 that it seemed they came out of some country not in- 

 habited, for that they at the first would abide shooting at 

 them, either with pellet, bowe, or other engine, and not 

 remove till they were stricken downe ; moreover, they 

 would abide the throweing at them, in so much as diverse 

 were stricken downe and killed with often throweing at 

 them with apples. They came when the apples were 

 rype, and went away when the apples were cleane fallen. 

 They were very good me ate.' " 



Professor Newton, in the last edition of Yarrell's 

 British Birds, states that " Lewin, in July, 1791, showed 

 Latham a pair of old birds and a young one shot in his 

 garden, while others of the brood still frequented the 

 spot ; and in August of the same year a hen-bird, with a 

 bare breast as if she had been sitting, was shot at Erith, 

 according to the naturalist last named, who also, in a 

 contribution to the edition of Pennant's British Zoology, 

 published in 1812, stated that a pair built a nest near 

 Dartford, in Kent, but no eggs were laid therein, for the 

 birds forsook it, owing to the too great curiosity of 

 visitors." 



In his Ornithological Notes of Kent, 1844, the Eev. J. 

 Pemberton Bartlett states that " these curious and 

 interesting birds visit the fir plantations in this neigh- 

 bourhood (Kingston) in greater or less numbers nearly 

 every year, appearing in considerable flocks some years in 

 the autumn, while in others only a few stragglers are to 

 be seen. I have shot several very fine-plumaged birds, 

 but from their exceeding tameness it is difficult in a fir 

 plantation to get sufficiently far from them to avoid 

 blowing them to pieces. Although I have myself never 

 found a nest of the Crossbill, I have ascertained from 

 13 



