194 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



good authority the fact of their nidification in the fir 

 plantations of Sir H. Oxenden, Bart., at Broome." 



Morris, in his History of British Birds, 1852, says : 

 " This species builds in the fir plantations about Dodding- 

 ton, Kent." 



In the Zoologist, 1868, Lord Clifton states that " a 

 young Crossbill was caught in the garden of Cobham 

 Vicarage during the summer of 1868." 



Crossbill at Wingham. — " On July 27, I heard Cross- 

 bills as I was walking through the grounds close to my 

 house, and almost immediately I saw a splendid old male 

 with a female on a Lebanon cedar some 20 yards from 

 me. The male bird shone like scarlet coral in the sun, 

 as he swayed to and fro on the extremities of the 

 branches. They seemed restless, and soon went off to 

 an old larch, which they left again, and I lost them. 

 Having never before seen Crossbills in the summer, I 

 strongly suspected they had been breeding here. This 

 morning I have just learned that some masons, who 

 are at work about the house, picked up a young Cross- 

 bill at the edge of a pond where they were mixing their 

 mortar ; the bird was covered with mud and half- 

 drowned. It lived one day and then died. It was seen 

 by my gardener and also by my gamekeeper, to whom the 

 men showed it. I think this is conclusive as to the fact 

 that the Crossbill occasionally breeds in this country. — 

 W. Oxenden Hammond, Wingham, Kent, August 8, 

 1868. 



" P.S. — A closer enquiry refutes the persuasion I felt 

 that the Crossbills had bred at my place. The bird 

 caught (not the pair) was thrown away when it died ; but 

 I have seen the man who caught it, and he says it had 

 red and green feathers. If I am right in thinking that 



