xNOTES. 21 



We were on a road leading through a small wood and came 

 suddenly on this bird as he sat on an oak within a few feet 

 of us ; on his taking a short flight and perching on a tree in a 

 field, we followed and watched him for some time. He seemed 

 so contented, singing, and at intervals preening his feathers, 

 that I concluded his mate was near. So we retraced our steps 

 and found that in the wood and by the roadside opposite to 

 the oak where we first saw the bird, were' a few Scotch firs. 

 A short search revealed the nest situated next the stem of the 

 tree near the top and about thu'ty feet from the ground. 

 The hen bird was on the nest, and with glasses we were able 

 to see her most distinctly, but I regret that a nearer examina- 

 tion of the nest was impossible owing to the tree being, for 

 us, unclimbable. 



The cock bird was not in very bright red plumage. Not 

 far from this nest we found another pair of birds in a large 

 wood of old firs. These birds were rather restless and gave 

 no indication of the situation of a nest. The cock bird was 

 generally perched on the top of a tree while the hen fed in 

 the lower branches. R. E. Coles. 



Crossbills have been present in a small flock at Beaulieu 

 since before Christmas, and about a week after Easter some 

 boys found a nest in a Scotch fir. Shortly afterwards, in 

 another part of the woods, a young bu-d was seen being fed 

 by an old one. On May 1st I saw two nests and heard of two 

 more, from one of which the young had only flown the week 

 before. There are, no doubt, other nests which have not 

 been found, as the woods are large and there are a good many 

 Crossbills about. Thomas H. C. Troubridge. 



In Kent, 



On April 23rd I saw at least two broods of young Crossbills 

 at Middingstone Hoath, Kent. They were being fed by the 

 old birds by the side of a road on the outskirts of a wood of 

 old, but small, larch in which were a certain number of 

 Scotch pine. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo. 



After watching Crossbills for several weeks in the neighbour- 

 hood of Ashford we saw on April 9th a female evidently 

 preparing a nest, and on the 10th we were able to locate 

 the position and saw the female go on to the nest. On April 

 17th I climbed to the nest, which was placed in the topmost 

 twigs of a Scotch fir on a small branch about forty feet from 

 the ground, and found that it contained four perfectly fresh 

 eggs. Charles F. Stedman. 



