416 LOXIA. CROSSBILL. 



was not the inventor of the name, it having been first used by 

 Gesner. That name, which signifies curted^ although not nearly 

 so appropriate as Crucirostra, I adopt. Wilson, who very pro- 

 perly instituted the genus, employed Curvirostra, a name which 

 is equally applicable to all the Falconine, Strigine, and Psitta- 

 cine families, as well as to various other genera. As to the 

 specific name curvirostra, it could only be admitted so long as 

 there was but a single species having a curved bill in a family 

 composed of birds with the bill straight. All the species of this 

 genus are curvirostral, and therefore they must receive each a 

 name from some other circumstance. One of them, the White- 

 winged^ is appropriately named leucoptera ; another, having a 

 remarkably strong and short bill, somewhat like that of a parrot, 

 has been designated by the name of P ijtiopsittacus ; the species 

 common in Europe, and that common in North America, so 

 precisely resemble each other in the forms and colouring of their 

 plumage, that no name can be derived from any thing having 

 reference to it, and as Wilson has named the latter Amej^icana, 

 I may take the liberty of naming the former Europwa. How- 

 ever, I neither assume any authority in this matter, nor expect 

 that every one will adopt my notions on the subject, my object 

 being merely to enable the reader to distinguish the species of 

 which I treat. 



Loxla Pytiopsittacus is said to have been once or twice met 

 with in Britain. L. europwa cannot be considered a very rare 

 bird with us, being much more frequently seen than the Haw- 

 finch, although its appearance is irregular, and it has been 

 found to breed with us only in one or two instances. L. 

 americana and L. leucoptera, are peculiar to the western world ; 

 but a single specimen of the latter, if accounts be correct, has 

 been shot in Ireland. 



