570 PERCHING BIRDS 



place in the British h'st. The general colour of the plumage of the 

 upper-parts of the cock is pale brown with black streaks and yellow 

 markings ; the forehead, throat, and breast are yellow, with a shade of 

 ashy on the lower part of the throat ; the flanks are ashy brown with 

 black streaks, and the rest of the under-parts is white. From Asia 

 Minor through the other Mediterranean countries to central Europe 

 and Denmark is the proper home of the serin, of which some seven- 

 teen examples were recorded in the British Isles during last centur\-. 

 Most of these were from the south and east coasts of England ; but 

 the list includes one Irish example, taken in 1893. 



Of the handsome east European and Asiatic bird, variously known 

 as the rose-finch, scarlet bullfinch, and scarlet grosbeak, and scien- 

 tifically as Carpodacus erythrinus and PyrrJiula erytJirina, four Ikitish 

 examples were recorded during the nineteenth century, namely, one in 

 Sussex in 1869, a second in the following year, a third in Radnorshire 

 about 1875, ^ncl a fourth in Norfolk in 1892. Another example was 

 taken in Fair Isle, Shetland, in 1906. 



Crossbill (Loxia '^^'^ crossing of the tips of the two halves of the 

 eurvipostra') beak is a sufficient characteristic of the brilliantly 

 coloured birds which take their name from this 

 peculiarity. The group has a circumpolar distribution, extending in 

 Asia as far south as the Himalaya. In the typical species, which is 

 specially characterised by its uniformly brown wings, the crown, neck, 

 and breast of the adult cock are dull vermilion, the loins a brighter 

 shade of the same, and the middle of the back brown with a vermilion 

 wash. In the hen green replaces the red ; while young birds are 

 greyish white tinged with yellow and streaked with dusky brown. It 

 should be observed that the crossbill is an exceedingly variable bird 

 both in size and colour. In length it ranges from 6\ to 7 inches ; 

 while in the matter of colour every gradation from pale green to 

 orange, and thence to dull vermilion, may be observed, the last- 

 mentioned hue being apparently developed only in the most vigorous 

 adults. In captivity the vermilion livery is never donned, and birds 

 captured in this dress fade to yellow after their first moult in durance. 

 If the smaller and larger forms of brown -winged crossbills be 

 regarded as races of Loxia cun'irosiro, the present species has a 

 geographical distribution coextensive with that of the genus ; its 

 home being everywhere in the pine-forests on which it is dependent 

 for food. Although generally a winter-visitor to the southern counties 

 of England, where, howe\er, it sometimes stays to breed, in Scotland 



