174 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. ix. 



it frequently has some golden or greenish-yellow feathers 

 here and there on the upper- and under-jjarts. Dr. C. B. 

 Ticehurst, however, states in a recent article, "On the Phniiage 

 of the Male Crossbill" [Ibis, 1915, pp. 662-9), that he has 

 examined yellow and green-yellow adult males, but he states 

 that this plumage in adults is of very rare occurrence. 

 Presumably the yellow or green-yellow adult males examined 

 were certainly wild birds, but Dr. Ticehurst does not state 

 this. It is two years ago since I worked out the ]ilumages of 

 the Crossbill, and I have no recollection or note of having seen 

 an adult male wild bird in yellow or greenish-yellow plumage, 

 and I examined several hundred specimens, so that such 

 birds must I think be so rare as to be quite abnormal. Very 

 rarely Linnets and Redpolls in a wild state are to be found 

 with the crimson replaced by yellow or yellowish-buff. There 

 is great individual variation in the brilliancy of the adult 

 male both in summer and winter. The female is yellowish- 

 green, sometimes of a more golden hue and occasionally 

 with a considerable nvnnber of feathers tipped with dull ])ink. 



Juvenile. — The upper-parts are dark brown, the whitish 

 or huffish edgings to the feathers giving it a heavil}' streaked 

 appearance ; the under-]3arts are still more prominently 

 streaked, as the whitish edgings to the feathers are broader. 

 The male has a tinge of green on the upper-parts, especially 

 on the mantle, and a few greenish-yello\\' feathers on the 

 throat and breast, while the female has none of the latter 

 and is browner on the upper-parts. 



First winter and summer. Male. — ^The juvenile body- 

 feathers and lesser wing-coverts are moulted from May to 

 October, but not the tail- and wing-feathers, nor the primary- 

 coverts, while most of the greater and median coverts are 

 not moulted, and frequently a varying ninnbei' of the juvenile 

 body-feathers (especially on the breast and belly) are retained. 

 After the moult there is much individual variation from a 

 bird indistinguishable by the coloration of the liody-feathers 

 from a bright crimson adult male to greenish-gold, yellow, 

 orange, and a mixture of all these colours. First winter 

 birds may, however, always be distinguished by the greenish 

 instead of pinkish outer edges of the wing- and tail-feathers 

 and more clearly by the buffish tips of the inimoulted juvenile 

 wing-coverts. These distinctions usually disappear in 

 summer when the feathers are much worn. Female.- — ^l.ike 

 the adult female except for the buft' tips of the unmoulted 

 j uvenile wing-coverts. 



After the second aiiluinii moult, males and i'l-mak's become, 

 so far as I can see, like (he adults. 



