34 



the first place, "a beam," and in the second place, "a long ridge," 

 from which the name might have come. And certainly, the long 

 ridge round which the Leven winds is a natural feature such as 

 might well have given name to settlement. But most probably 

 the place-name is due to a Danish personal name. 



THE COMMON CROSSBILL (LOXIA CURVIROSTRA) 



IN CLEVELAND IN 1904. 



B . Frank R. Atkinson. 



The Crossbill is a bird I have always taken a considerable 

 interest in, as he is so much out of tbe ordinary run of birds and 

 one sees so little of him in tbese parts. Up till last year I had 

 only seen two at large, botb derelict migrants. The one I had 

 most opportunity of watching was stranded in treeless Shetland 

 where he had small chance of shewing off the arboreal habits of 

 his kind amongst the stones and seaweed of that rocky coast. It 

 was therefore with very great pleasure that last New Years Day 

 while out for a long tramp over the hills that 1 spotted a 

 suspicious band of birds in a fair sized larch tree which on nearer 

 inspection proved to be the long hoped-for Crossbills. There 

 were about 30 individuals in this flock which I had only short 

 time to watch as something or other alarmed them and away they 

 went calling loudly to one another and were no more seen. The 

 call is rather like the rolling note of a greenfinch but much louder 

 and the birds are very vociferous on the wing. 



After this I took every opportunity of searching for the 

 interesting strangers and after many days had the luck to come 

 across them again some way from where I had made their 

 acquaintance the first time. After this second rencontre I had 

 frequent opportunities of observing them. I generally found that 

 they were wild at first but on being quietly approached a second 

 time they took very little notice of the intruder. They are 

 remarkably interesting to watch at work on the pendant branches 

 of some cone-laden larch as they busily feed. In form they are 

 portly, plump, heavy, sedate looking birds, but whilst feeding on 

 their favourite food, the seeds of the larch, they show great activity. 

 Climbing and clambering about the branches in any and every 



