PARROT-CROSSBILL. 241 



the colleciion of Mr. Newcome, of Feltwell^ who kindly 

 presented me with the other, and having recently sub- 

 mitted my own bird to the inspection of Mr. Alfred 

 IvTewton, and one or two other well-known authorities in 

 such matters, I feel perfectly satisfied with their de- 

 cision, that it can be considered only as one of the large 

 and very puzzling forms of the common crossbill. Mr. 

 Newton, in communicating the verdict* as above, adds, 

 "Your specimen appears to me to belong to Brehm's 

 " Crucirostra montana," which is the most parrot-like of 

 the sub-species, into which he divides Loxia curvirostra 

 of Linnaeus. Its beak is almost exactly represented in the 

 plate, illustrating his paper, in "Naumannia" (1853, 

 fig. 9), and it is described by him at length in the same 

 volume, pp. 188-190. Brehm makes six sub-species of 

 j)arrot-crossbill, and five of common crossbill, besides 

 distinguishing a lesser crossbill and a red-winged one, 

 the latter of which he divides into two sub-species." 

 This is indeed carrying to the very verge of absurdity 

 the too great tendency of certain modern naturalists, 

 to invent specific differences. Mr. Wheelwright thus 

 writes of the nidification of this rare species as observed 

 by himself in Sweden : — " The parrot-crossbill gene- 

 rally goes to nest a little later than the common 

 one. By the middle or end of April the young birds 

 are strong flyers, and we never find a nest with eggs 

 after that month. The nests of both species are very 

 much alike, but that of the parrot -crossbill is thicker 

 and larger than the other. It is built outwardly of 

 dried sticks, and with moss of two kinds, and lined with 

 shreds of the inner bark of the fir-tree, with here and 

 there a feather or two. The eggs of the parrot-crossbill 

 are often scarcely larger than those of the common 

 species, but they are usually shorter, and their markings 

 are of a bolder character. Their full number appears 

 to be three, for we very rarely find four in a nest." 

 2i 



