THE BULLFINCHES. 



59 



II. THE TWO-BARRED CROSSBILL.* LOXIA BIFASCIATA. 



Cruarostra bifasctata, Brehm., Ornis., iii., p. 85 (1827). 

 Loxia bifasciata, Newt. ed. Yarr., ii., p. 211 (1877); Dresser, 



B. Eur., iv., p. 141, pi. 205 (1877); B. O. U. List Br. 



B., p. 58 (1883); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., xii., p. 58 



(1888); Saunders, Man., p. 195 (1889). 

 Adult Male. — Distinguished from the common Crossbill by the 

 white bands on the wings, formed by the white tips to the 

 median and greater coverts. Total length, 5-5 inches; oil- 

 men, 07 ; wing, 3-65 ; tail, 2*1 ; tarsus, 07. 



Range in Great Britain. — An accidental visitor, sometimes oc- 

 curring in some numbers, as in 1889. 



Range ontside the British Islands. — Accidental in many parts 

 of Central Europe, but resident in Northern Russia and 

 Northern Asia across Siberia to the Pacific. 



Hahits. — Like those of the common Crossbill. 



Nest and Eggs. — Like those of the common Crossbill, but 

 smaller in size, the egg said to be darker in colour than that 

 of the last-named bird. 



THE BULLFINCHES. GENUS PYRRHULA. 

 Pyrrhula, Briss., Orn., iii., p. 308 (1760). 

 Type, P. curopcza (Vieill.). 

 The peculiarly swollen and evenly rounded bill, which is 

 very broad at the base, is the chief distinguishing character of 

 the Bullfinches, apart from their coloration, which is also some- 

 what peculiar. The sexes carry out the same style of colour, 

 but the males are generally red-breasted, while the females are 

 grey-breasted. In some species, however, like the Azorean 

 Bullfinch (P. murina) and Cassin's Bullfinch (P. cassini), both 

 sexes are equally brown or grey, with no red. Similar Bull- 

 finches, with the sexes alike, occur in the Himalayas, which 



* The White-winged Crossbill (Loxia Ieticoftera) is the American 

 form of the Two-barred Crossbill. It is rather more crimson in its colour, 

 and has a little more black on the scapulars. Total length, 9 inches ; wirx*, 

 3*55. It is said to have occurred in the British Islands op several occa- 

 fiouj. 



