202 CROSSBILL. 



The Crossbill nests throughout the pine-forests of Europe, from 

 Lapland to Spain, the Balearic Islands, and Greece, as well as in the 

 mountains of Africa (the southern residents having noticeably weaker 

 bills than northern examples) ; and it also frequents the conifer 

 growths of Siberia as far as Kamchatka, wintering in North China. 

 The pine-woods of Scandinavia and Northern Russia are simul- 

 taneously inhabited by a large stout-billed race, formerly distinguished 

 as the Parrot-Crossbill, Loxia pityopsittacus, but now esteemed by 

 modern authorities as merely one of several forms which Dr. Sharpe 

 (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xii. p. 439) " does not consider to be worthy 

 of even subspecific rank." This extreme phase merely differs from 

 the type in its tendency to larger size, and in the fact that its food 

 consists largely of the seeds of the Scotch fir, whereas the smaller 

 and commoner form also feeds on the spruce, larch, stone-pine &c. 

 The large-billed birds are occasionally obtained in our islands and 

 in Central Europe, though they do not migrate far south. Forms 

 slightly smaller than the ordinary Crossbill are found in the 

 Himalayas and Tibet, Japan, and in North America, but the high- 

 lands of Mexico produce a rather larger race. 



The nest, frequently built in February or March, is generally 

 placed on the horizontal branch of a fir, often close to the stem, and 

 is formed of twigs, surmounted by a cup-shaped structure of dry 

 grass, moss, wool and lichen, with a lining of similar but softer 

 materials. The eggs, usually 4, and rarely 5 in number, are greyish- 

 white, sparsely spotted with several shades of reddish-brown, like 

 those of the Greenfinch, but larger : measurements "9 by '66 in. ; 

 those of the Parrot-Crossbill hardly exceeding these dimensions. In 

 summer both young and old birds eat caterpillars and the larvae of 

 insects, but later their food is obtained from larch and fir cones, 

 while rowan and other berries, apple-pips and buds are also 

 consumed. The note is a gip, gip, gip, chi, chi. 



The adult male has most of the upper and under parts dull 

 crimson, which is brightest on the rump (younger birds are orange- 

 yellow) ; wings brown, with a pale bar along the edges of the 

 coverts ; tail brown ; bill, legs and feet dark brown. Average 

 length 6 '5 in. ; wing 3 "8 in. In the female the red is represented 

 by greenish-orange, and her plumage is more striated, especially 

 before maturity. The young bird is greenish-grey, with a little 

 yellow on the rump, and also on the gorget in the cock ; under parts 

 much striated ; in the nestling stage the general colour is ash-brown, 

 and at three weeks old the bill is still straight, the lower mandible 

 shutting within the upper. 



