236 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK. 



invariably during the spring months. One might have 

 imagined that the considerable increase in our fir-planta- 

 tions of late years, throughout the county, would have 

 caused these birds to visit us, not only more regularly, 

 but in far larger numbers than formerly ; but this does 

 not appear to be the case, nor am I aware of any 

 authentic instance of the nest or young of the Crossbill 

 having been found in Norfolk. It is still by no means 

 improbable that theyi^^may nest here, at times, though 

 passing wholly unnoticed amongst the dense foliage of 

 the Scotch and other firs, and the localities they frequent 

 being for the most part strictly preserved, few oppor- 

 tunities are obtainable for a careful search. The real 

 time of their breeding, however, is by no means gene- 

 rally understood, since their occasional appearance here 

 during the summer months, — as in May, 1856, when 

 three pairs were shot near Yarmouth; in 1862, when 

 several were procured in the same month ; and in 1855, 

 when a single pair were shot at Blickling on the 17th of 

 July, — is usually looked upon as an indication that in such 

 instances the birds had remained for nesting purposes; 

 whilst the observations of most modern naturahsts prove 

 that the crossbill nests rather in winter than summer, and 

 amidst the snows of more northern regions in January, 

 February, and March. So that our occasional visitants 

 in May, June, and July are not improbably stragglers on 

 their way southward, consisting of old birds with their 

 attendant broods. Mr. Wheelwright, so well-known to 

 the readers of the "Field" as the "Old Bushman," 

 and whose admirable notes, founded on personal ex- 

 plorations, have done much to advance the science 

 of ornithology, thus speaks of the crossbill in Sweden 

 (Gould's Birds of Great Britain) — " The pairing season 

 begins about the middle of January, when both sexes 

 utter a very pretty song, -s^- -J?- -J^- They commence 

 nesting often in the end of January, always by the 



