The Oologists' Record, December i, 1922. 77 



these preliminary observations is really to suggest an undoubted 

 continuity of the Crossbill as a breeding species in a particular area, 

 and to deprecate the opinion expressed by some writers that it is 

 sporadic as regards its nesting distribution. 



I met with fully-grown broods of Crossbills in the district every 

 spring until 1910 — the year of the great irruption — but I was never 

 there early enough to find the nest. In 1905 I found several nests 

 of Loxia c. scotica in Inverness-shire, but it was not until 1910 that 

 I actually found my first nests in East Anglia ; then, from 1916 

 until the present year 1922, I found them annually, sometimes as 

 many as ten in a season. 



One has only to know the Crossbill — to meet with it on a sunny 

 day in February in these fir-belts of nameless attraction — to 

 appreciate its charm. There are few birds so calm and confiding, 

 and at the same time so excitable and so joyous. From May or 

 June onwards the Crossbills may be met with in small parties of 

 old and young, although throughout the year there are always 

 a few isolated pairs which keep strictly and curiously to themselves, 

 seldom seeming to wander far from a remarkably restricted area. 

 The little parties — in my experience seldom more than 10 to 13 

 strong — are restless and often noisy, feeding rapidly and moving 

 swiftly from place to place. The isolated pairs, on the other hand, 

 seldom betray their presence, and only the initiated may become 

 aware of it. It is true that at all seasons of the year the cock will 

 occasionally break into song ; but this song is of so peculiar a 

 timbre that, except in the spring when it is very much louder, 

 it is very easy to overlook. For the last few years I have generally 

 made a practice of visiting the Crossbill country about the second 

 week of January, and continuing my observations until the early 

 part of April. The birds are extremely difficult to see, and their 

 presence is most easily located by listening either for the crackling 

 sound produced by the extraction of the seeds from the fir cones, 

 or by the dropping of the cones themselves to the ground. The 

 Crossbill nearly always feeds near the tops of lofty trees, but I have 

 frequently met with them in plantings of young firs, and they are 

 so ridiculously tame that they can be watched with ease and at 

 leisure. I have found that they seldom feed in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the nest, although I have no doubt that in the 

 red-letter year 1910 this peculiarity was not so apparent on account 

 of their great numbers. 



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