LOXIA. CROSSBILL. 415 



small ; eyelids feathered. External ajDerture of the ear large, 

 circular ; the meatus oblique and narrow. 



Head large, roundish ; neck short ; body ovate. Legs short 

 and strong; tarsus compressed, covered anteriorly with six 

 scutella, posteriorly with two narrow plates meeting at an 

 acute angle ; toes of moderate strength ; the first stout, the 

 third much longer than the second and fourth, which are nearly 

 equal ; claws large, arched, compressed, grooved on the sides, 

 with the tij) very acute, the hind one largest. 



Plumage soft, rather blended, the feathers ovate, with their 

 filaments sej)arated. At the base of the upper mandible are 

 short bristly feathers directed forwards so as to conceal the 

 nostrils. Wings long, with eighteen quills ; the primaries 

 rounded, the secondaries slightly emarginate or retuse, the first, 

 second, and third quills longest. Tail short, emarginate, of 

 twelve moderately broad feathers, which taper obliquely out- 

 wards to a rounded point, the lateral considerably curved out- 

 wards. 



The Crossbills appear to be most nearly allied to the genus 

 Pyrrhula on the one hand, and to Emberiza on the other, 

 although the compression and curvature of the extremi- 

 ties of the mandibles give the bill a singular appearance. 

 The genus is composed of four species, which inhabit the fo- 

 rests of the northern parts of Euroj^e and America, feeding 

 upon the seeds of pines and firs, which they extract from the 

 cones by means of their powerful and curiously constructed bill, 

 the points of which appear to have received their lateral curva- 

 ture from the force applied in that direction to separate the 

 scales. The hard spoon-shaped tongue seems to be the instru- 

 ment by which the seeds are then taken up. They are gregarious, 

 and wander about in search of their favourite food, appearing at 

 irregular intervals in places not usually frequented by them. 



When the genus Loxia of Linnaeus, which included a mul- 

 titude of thick-billed species, was broken up, the dissevered 

 groups received various generic names, and the original desig- 

 nation was left with the Crossbills, on pretence of its having 

 been applied to them by Brisson, who however had no precise 

 notions as to generic and specific names, and who moreover 



