197 



COMMON CROSSBILL. 

 Loxia curvirostra (/.)• 



Autumn and winter visitant ; somewhat irregular. Has occasion- 

 ally nested. 



Its first connection with Yorkshire was made by Mar- 

 maduke Tunstall, thus :— " (Loxia curvirostra Linn & Ges.). 

 Crossbill — Common. A person who was here in July last and 

 was well acquainted with their cry, was persuaded that at 

 that time he heard some in my woods (Wycliffe-on-Tees). As 

 they have never been known to breed here I much doubted ; 

 but as they breed very early it was possible." (Tunst. MS. 

 1784.) 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : — 



Loxia curvirostra. — Common Crossbill — Periodically common in 

 fir plantations near Doncaster ; rare about Hebden Bridge ; it has been 

 frequently obtained near Sheffield, and was numerous in the winter 

 of 1837-8 ; at HaUfax an irregular visitant, frequenting the gardens 

 and plantations ; occasionally seen near Huddersfield ; a large 

 flock was seen about Whitley Hall a few years ago ; sometimes met 

 with near Barnsle^' in 183 1-4 and 5, also in the vicinity of York. 

 Arthur Strickland says " For many years back I have almost annually 

 noted this bird in small flocks about August in the grounds about 

 Boynton, apparently family groups returning after breeding, and 

 busy feeding on the larch and lir cones ; on one occasion I detected 

 it breeding there, and the egg figured in ]\Ir. Hewetson's work was 

 from that locality ; much doubt has existed as to the time and place 

 of nidification of this species, but I believe the whole difficulty arises 

 from making their nests in the tops of very high larch trees, where 

 it is extremely difficult to detect them ; I see it mentioned that in 

 lately cutting down some very tall larch trees in Holt Forest this 

 bird was found to have bred there, a circumstance not before suspected. 

 We have, besides, occasionally had a large flock of them in winter, 

 as was the case in 1829, when between thirty and forty were killed, 

 and some remained till spring." Near Leeds they have been met with 

 at Killingbeck, and several nests were found in Bramham Park in 1 840 ; 

 it is also seen about Thirsk. 



This un-English looking bird is a native of the pine forests 

 of Europe, from Lapland to Spain and Greece, the mountain 



