EUROPEAN CROSSBILL. 709 



Torbanehill, belonging to Sir Richard B. J. Honyman, Bart., 

 about a mile from my house. Sometime in the beginning of 

 April 1839 they built a nest, but I could not discover it, as 

 the trees were high and the branches very thick. On the fore- 

 noon of the third of June, after the young brood had flown, I 

 observed the parents feeding them with the seeds of the larch, 

 uttering whilst doing so a kind of twittering note, and when 

 I approached them, the old birds set up a very loud cry of 

 alarm, and seemed to be in great uneasiness. I fired at one of 

 the young birds, and killed it. The remaining two of the 

 brood flew oft" with great rapidity to a considerable distance, 

 accompanied by their parents. 



" On Tuesday morning the 4th of June last, ten Cross- 

 bills were seen pecking seeds out of the cones of the larch, in 

 a plantation in my neighbourhood. There were four old and 

 six young ones. They were the last that were observed dur- 

 ing the season." 



The young bird mentioned above as having been shot while 

 its parents were feeding it, was sent to me by Mr Weir, and 

 is still in my collection, being preserved in spirits. The plu- 

 mage is not perfect, as the quills and tail-feathers had not at- 

 tained their full growth. 



Length five inches and eight-twelfths ; extent of wings ten ; 

 bill along the ridge seven-twelfths ; wing from flexure three 

 inches and two-twelfths ; tail one inch and one-twelfth. The 

 bill is perfectly symmetrical, being rather short, robust, tri- 

 gonal at the base, considerably compressed, and much higher 

 than broad ; the outline of the upper mandible decurved, its 

 sides sloping and flattened, the edges straight, sharp, and 

 slightly overlapping ; the tip very small, acute, deflected, only 

 one-twelfth of an inch longer than the lower ; the lower man- 

 dible with the angle broad and rounded, the dorsal line ascend- 

 ing and nearly straight, the edges involute, the tip pointed and 

 a little ascending. The lower jaw is of extreme width at the 

 base, the distance from the exterior of one joint to that of the 

 other being nine-twelfths of an inch. The lateral motion is 

 very great, but there is no greater facility of movement to- 

 ward one side than toward the other, the tips of the man- 



