THE CROSSBILL AS A BRITISH BIRD. 333 



birds collecting nesting-material, or by observing the 

 young being fed by the parents, or by obtaining examples 

 so young that it may be quite certain that they were 

 unequal to a prolonged flight. 



The status of the Common Crossbill as a British bird 

 may be summarized thus : — 



England and Wales. — An early autumn-immigrant 

 arriving from mid-June to August ; regular in its 

 appearance in some districts but irregular in most, and 

 especially so in north-western and south-western England 

 and in Wales. Periodically (every three to ten years) 

 it arrives in great numbers and becomes much more 

 generally distributed, and frequently stays over the 

 following spring and into the summer, but authentic 

 records of nesting are few and far between. The facts 

 that most of the nesting-records refer to springs imme- 

 diately following an " irruption," and that up till now 

 no authentic case has been recorded of the bird breeding 

 in two successive years in the same district, show that it 

 cannot be classed as a resident, but only as a migrant, 

 breeding sporadically.* It has nested in the following 

 counties, the dates within square brackets referring to 

 probable but not positive records : — Devon, 1839, 1894. 

 Somerset, 1910. Hants., 1839, 1858, 1877, 1892, 1910. 

 Berks., 1882, 1889, [1898], 1899, 1910. Sussex, 1791, 1840, 

 1910. Surrey, [1899], 1910. Kent, [1833], [1839], [1894], 

 1910. Gloucester, 1839, 1910. Oxon., [1839]. Leicester, 

 1839. Staffs., 1910. Hereford, [1895]. Salop., 1880, 

 [1895], [1896]. Northants., 1892, 1904. Beds., [1899] 1910. 

 Essex, 1910. Suffolk, 1815, 1822, 1885, 1889, 1910. 

 Norfolk, 1829, [1887], 1889, 1910. Lines., [1910]. 

 Yorks., 1829, 1840, [1855], 1872, 1876, 1902. Durham, 

 1838, 1856. Cumberland, 1839, 1856, [1865]. Northum- 



* Since writing the above I have received the interesting news from 

 Mr. P. F. Bunyard. Mr. B. B. Riviere and Mr. Meiklejohn and the Rev. 

 J. R. Hale and Mr. C. D. Borrer, that they have found a few Crossbills 

 nesting this spring in localities where tliey were breeding last year. 

 These cases of nesting are undoubtedly due to the gi-eat irruption of 1909, 

 and do not affect my argmnent that the bii-d only nests sporadically. 



