PERCHING BIRDS. 125 
tion of the tips of the mandibles characteristic of this 
genus are not observable, the bill being similar to that 
of a finch or sparrow, though stronger and more com- 
pressed.” 4 
Surely his meaning in the passage above quoted cannot 
be that if a young crossbill were taken before it left the 
nest and prevented from feeding on its favourite food, 
the crossing of its mandibles would never take place, 
but that they would remain straight, like those of a 
finch or asparrow! Apparently it is, but to my own 
mind such an idea carries no weight, for I believe that 
the deflection of the mandibles would gradually be 
accomplished, even if the bird never tried their power 
on a fir-cone. The whole instrument, instead of being 
as Buffon declared it, a “useless deformity,” is a most 
beautiful adaptation of means to an end, for when the 
points of the mandibles are brought together and 
inserted beneath the edge of a scale, the very powerful 
muscles by which they are moved across each other gives 
them a wedgelike action, which forces open the scales 
of the cone and liberates the seeds—a process which 
would be otherwise impracticable to it, and one which 
finches and sparrows never accomplish. ‘The special 
development of the muscles of the cheeks in this and 
the allied species shows clearly the use for which they 
are manifestly designed, and is sufficient to dissipate the 
idea contained above. 
Two other members of the genus Loxia have been 
taken in the district, both being rare stragglers, 
The first, the Parrot Crossbill (L. pityopsittacus) isa 
native of the north of Europe, its stronghold being the 
pine forests of Norway and Sweden. It is but very 
seldom that any of this species visit our shores, but in 
