* FINCHES 175 



the kernells onely of those apples, and havinge a bill 

 with one beak wrythinge over the other which 

 would presently bore a greate hole in the apple, and 

 make way to the kernells : they were of the bignesse 

 of a Bullfinch, the henne right like the henne of 

 a Bullfinch in coulour : the cocke a very glorious 

 bird, in a manner al redde or yellowe on the brest, 

 backe and head. The oldest man living never 

 heard or reade of any such like bird : and the thinge 

 most to bee noted was, that it seemed they came 

 out of some countrv not inhabited : for that they 

 at the first would abide shooting at them, either with 

 pellet, bow 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 striken down 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 meate." ^ 



Now we know that the Crossbill is a resident, 

 occurring irregularlv in most of the English coun- 

 ties, and nesting annuallv in certain wooded dis- 

 tricts of Scotland, especially in Sutherland and 

 Ross. Here, in these lands of "brown heath and 

 shaggy wood," where the closely growing firs cover 

 the mountain sides from their base by the loch's 

 edge midway to their rocky summits, the Crossbill 

 may still be seen by those patient enough to trace 

 him to his haunts. 



In these primeval forests travelling is by no 

 means easy. Sometimes the firs spring from the 

 sides of declivities well-nigh sheer, and fragments 

 ^ Quoted from Yarrell. 



