488 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
instrument admirably adapted for dividing the scales of fir-cones so 
as to disclose the germs, which are favourite portions of their food, 
There are several species of this genus, all much resembling each 
other. However, Loxia curvirostris (Fig. 204) is most common, 
‘They are sometimes found near.orchards, feeding on the kernels of 
apples, which their bills readily cut.. They are said to commit great 
ravages among the fruit of Normandy when they pass through that 
Fig. 204.—Crossbills. 
province, which they annually do in great flocks. This family 
presents, a peculiarity which is almost unique among birds, that 
they build their nests and lay at all seasons. The Crossbills haunt 
the wooded mountains of the north of Europe and America. _ 
The next are perhaps the best characterised genus among the 
Passerine Conirostres. In it are included a great number of species 
with bills more or less thick at the base.. Coming to the most 
remarkable of them, we have the Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vulgarts, 
Fig. 205), which is the type of the genus, for although not larger 
