417 



LOXIA EUROP^A. THE COMMON EUROPEAN 

 CROSSBILL. 



CROSSBILL. SHELD-APPLE. 



Fro. 



Loxia curvirostra. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 299. 



Loxia curvirostra. Lath. Ind. Orn. I. 370, 



Crossbill. Mont. Orn. Diet. 



Bec-crois^ commun. Loxia curvirostra. Temm. Man.d'Orn. I. 3'28. III. 



Length about seven inches^ wing from flexure four^ bill from 

 four and a half to six and a half twelfths in height at the base, 

 longer than the tarsus^ much curved^ the point of the lower man- 

 dible seldom reaching so high as the level of the ridge of the upper. 

 Male dull red above, brighter beneath, the rump yellowish-red, 

 the wings and tail dark olive brown. Female greyish-brown 

 tinged with yellow above, the rump yellow, light yellowish-grey 

 beneath, the wings and tail as in the male. Young light brown- 

 ish-grey, streaked with blackish-brown. Young males brownish- 

 red, or yellowish-red, or wax yellotv, or mottled with yellow and 

 red. 



The Common European Crossbill, which is about the size of 

 the Corn Bunting, Emberiza Miliaria, is, like it and the Haw- 



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