74 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



the male, the yellow and orange on young birds and females, 

 together with a stumpy, short-necked appearance, make them 

 easy to recognise when seen, but, though not shy, they are 

 difficult to pick out when working silently in the dark fir 

 branches. A litter of dislocated cones beneath the trees, or 

 a cone dropping from the branches, is often the first sign of 

 their presence, though when moving from tree to tree, when the 

 flight is strong and undulating, the call, " zit, zit," or " zup," is 

 noticeable. In spring the males warble with a twitter like that 

 of the Greenfinch. The last important invasion was in 1909, 

 when they were first noticed late in June, and by early July 

 some had reached Cheshire, where I frequently watched them in 

 the larches. Their attitudes and actions were more parrot than 

 tit like ; they climbed along the branches, often walking side- 

 ways, and swung head downwards to wrench at a cone. This 

 was first twisted and nipped off, considerable force being used, 

 then carried in the bill to a firm perch, where it was held, 

 sometimes with one, sometimes with both feet, whilst the bird 

 wrenched back scale after scale, picking out, then eating the 

 seeds with head raised. When enough had been secured, the 

 cone was dropped and the bird hunted for another ; about five 

 minutes was spent on each cone. After a cone was dropped 

 the bird invariably polished its bill, probably to rub off the 

 resin. The scales were generally split, but seldom wrenched 

 off, or the cones stripped like those dropped by squirrels. At 

 times the birds neatly picked something from a twig, probably 

 an aphis, for insects are also eaten, as are the berries of various 

 trees. Mr. C. B. Moffat noticed that after the incursion of 1888 

 the birds in Ireland fed on the larch, but that the Scots pine 

 was favoured after the last visit ; he argues that the two 

 exoduses may have been from different places. In Cheshire 

 I found both trees attacked, but we did not notice the spruce 

 either here or in Ireland, though Seebohm found it a usual food 

 abroad. 



