TWO-BARRED CROSSBILL. 217 



change that follows is not with certainty known ; but there 

 is no doubt that much of the striated character is soon lost, 

 particularly by the cocks, which appear to attain before or in 

 their first autumn a greyish suit, suffused here and there by 

 a rosy blush or a warm ochreous tinge. The hens com- 

 monly retain the striations to a great degree, while their 

 general plumage inclines to green or greenish-yellow on the 

 breast and rump. Except the white wing-bars there is little 

 difference in style of coloration between them and the hens 

 of the common species. 



Confusion, however, of the present bird with its American 

 representative must be guarded against. The differential 

 characters are rather minute, but most of those assigned by 

 various writers appear to be constant. Exception may be 

 taken to the alleged difference in the red colouring of the 

 cocks, the intensity and tone of which varies considerably 

 and some European examples are quite as brilliant as any 

 from America. The more constant differences may be thus 

 summed up. The bird of the Old World is very decidedly 

 the larger and with a more powerful bill, which is obvious 

 even in young examples ; and the scapulars and feathers of 

 the middle of the back are much more broadly tipped and 

 edged with brown or red. The tail also is rather less forked, 

 but perhaps a better character is found in the fact that its 

 feathers seldom lose their light margins, which indeed are 

 often very conspicuous, while the American bird is almost as 

 seldom seen possessing them. Further distinction has 

 also been sought (CEfvers. K. Vet.-Ak. Forhandl. 1846, p. 40) 

 in the proportional length of the toes and claws, but the 

 examination of a considerable series of specimens casts 

 doubt upon this as a character. It follows then that the 

 general dimensions, and especially those of the bill, are alone 

 to be trusted, though the presence or absence of the light 

 margins of the tail-feathers, and in cock birds the colour of 

 the scapulars and back, will in the great majority of cases 

 decide the question at a glance. 



