CROSSBILL 115 



The Common Crossbill of the Palaearctic area, Loxia cur- 

 virostra, is about the size of a Skylark, but more stoutly built. 

 The young (which on lea^•ing the nest have not the tips of the bill 

 crossed) are of a dull oKve colour with indistinct dark stripes on 

 the lower parts, and the quills of the wings and tail dusky. After 

 the first moult the difference between the sexes is shewn by the 

 hens inclining to yellowish-green, while the cocks become diversified 

 by orange-yellow and red, their plumage finally deepening into a 

 rich crimson-red, varied in places by a flame-colour. Their glowing 

 hues are, however, speedily lost by examples which may be kept in 

 confinement, and are replaced by a dull orange, or in some cases 

 by a bright golden-yellow, and specimens have, though rarely, 

 occuiTed in a wild state exhibiting the same tints. The cause of 

 these changes is at present obscure, if not unknown, and it must be 

 admitted that their sequence has been disputed by some excellent 

 authorities, but the balance of evidence is certainly in favour of 

 the above statement. Depending mainly for food on the seeds of 

 conifers, the movements of Crossbills are irregular beyond those of 

 most birds, and they woiild seem to rove in any direction and at 

 any season in quest of their staple sustenance. But the pips of 

 apples are also a favourite dainty, and it stands recorded by the 

 old chronicler Matthew Paris (Hist. Angl. MS. fol. 252), that in 

 1251 the orchards of England were ravaged by birds, "pomorum 

 grana, & non-aliud de eisdem pomis comedentes" ; which, from his 

 description, " Habebant autem partes rostri cancellatas, per quas 

 poma quasi forcipi vel cultello dividebant," could be none other but 

 Crossbills. Notice of a like visitation in 1593 was published by 

 Wats {Vit 2 Offar. &c. 1640, p. 263), but of late it has become 

 evident that hardly a year passes without Crossbills being observed 

 in some part or other of England, while in certain localities in 

 Scotland they seem to breed annually. The nest is rather rudely 

 constructed, and the eggs, generally four in number, resemble 

 those of the Greenfinch, but are larger in size. This species 

 ranges throughout the continent of Europe,^ and, besides occurring 

 in the islands of the Mediterranean, is permanently resident in 

 Mauritania and in the fir-woods of the Atlas. In Asia it would 

 seem to extend to Kamchatka and Japan, keeping mainly to the 

 forest-tracts. 



Thi'ee other forms of the genus also inhabit the Old World — 

 two of them so closely resembling the common bird that their 

 specific validity has been often questioned. The first of these, of 

 large stature, the Parrot-Crossbill, L. pityopsiUacus, comes occasion- 

 ally to Great Britain, presumably from Scandinavia, where it is 



^ It was obtained by Dr. Malmgi-en on the desolate Bear Island (lat. 74^° N.), 

 and in the autumn of 1889 enormous flocks were observed migrating southward 

 along the coast of Portugal by the present King of that country. 



