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BBITISH BIBD8 



Bullfinches pair for life, and at all seasons of the year male and 

 female are seen together ; if any young are reared, they usually re- 

 main in company with the parent birds during the autumn and 

 winter months. 



Nearly allied to the common bullfinch are two beautiful birds 

 which have a place in our list of species. One of these is the rosy 

 bullfinch {Caiyodacus erythrinus) , of which two or three stragglers 

 have been found in England ; it breeds in Finland, and is found 

 throughout the Eussian Empire. The other is the pine grossbeak 

 Pinicola (enucleAtor), also a rare straggler to Britain from the north 

 of Europe. 



Crossbill. 

 Loxia curvirostra. 



Fig. 50. — Crossbill. \ natural size. 



' Wing and tail feathers brown; all other parts green, yellow, 

 orange, and tile-red, according to age and sex. Eed is the colour of 

 the adult male in a state of nature, and yellow in captivity. Length, 

 six inches and a half. 



The crossbills differ from all other birds in the extraordinary 

 form of the parrot-like bill. In other birds, whatever the shape of 



