10 Mr. J. A.Bucknill on the 



and without remark by Miiller, who inserts it only on Unger 

 and Kotschy's authority. Sibthorp' s name is itself, however, 

 not very clear, as it might refer to the Mealy or Lesser 

 Kedpoll. It is not, in any case, likely that either bird would 

 occur in Cyprus, and I am inclined to assume that the Linnet 

 — Linaria linota (Gmel.) — was the species really intended by 

 Sibthorp. I bracket the name of this bird as I do not think 

 that it has, at present, any claim to be recorded among the 

 Cypriote avifauna. 



495. Loxia curvirostra Linn. 



Loxia guillemardi Madarasz. 



The Crossbill was probably discovered in Cyprus by 

 Sibthorp, who states in his journal (19th of April, 1787) that 

 on the northern range near the Convent of Antiphoniti, he 

 shot two species of Loxia . . . one which he proposed to call 

 L. varia and the other L. cinerea. Perhaps his two supposed 

 species were the male and female Crossbill, and if so, the 

 record is peculiarly interesting as, at the present time, the 

 Crossbill is confined to the southern range. Sibthorp did not 

 include these two species in his formal list, and accordingly 

 they do not appear in that of Unger and Kotschy. No 

 more is heard of a Crossbill until Guillemardi arrival, and 

 although on his first visit he was informed that such a bird 

 existed it was not until his second visit that he discovered — or 

 rediscovered — the species on the highest parts of Troodos in 

 April 1888, when he obtained a good series of old and young 

 and found it in some abundance. He remarked on the very 

 dark colour of their plumage, and LordLilford called attention 

 to the stoutness of their bills. It was reserved for Madarasz, 

 from examples sent to him by Glaszner, to separate the 

 Cypriote form as distinct. 



In Cyprus the Crossbill is confined to the highest coniferous 

 forest-areas of the Troodos Kange, and personally I have 

 never seen it elsewhere than in the more or less immediate 

 neighbourhood of the summer station on the saddle of the 

 topmost divide. It is fairly common, but shifts about in 

 small or sometimes biggish flocks and, unless one knows its 



