THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 45 



CROSSBILL. — Loxia cvrvirostra, Linn, 



An irregular visitant, most frequently met with in 

 South Devon ; but large flights sometimes visit North 

 Devon, as in 1868, when many were shot near 

 Barnstaple, (Zool. 1868. p. 1460). Mr. F. Pershouse 

 informs me that he possesses a pair of Crossbills 

 shot on Chappel Hill, Torquay, in March 1867, 

 when they were possibly breeding ; the species 

 undoubtedly bred at Ogwell House, near Newton, 

 in 1839, the birds having been numerous during the 

 previous winter, Mr. Jordan saw the nest on the 

 10th of April, placed in a spruce fir, and similar in 

 structure to that of the Greenfinch. The female 

 Crossbill continued to attend the nest after her 

 mate had been shot, (Zool. 1843. p. 39), In South 

 Devon, the Crossbill has been procured in many 

 localities, at Kingsbridge, at Exmouth, (1888), at 

 Stoke Cannon and elsewhere, occurring in fact at 

 intervals m every month of the year. 



PARROT CROSSBILL.- XftwV/ pityopsUtams, Bechst. 



A RARE visitant. Dr. Moore records that Mr. Newton 

 shot nine Parrot Crossbills near Millaton, in 1838, 

 but whether the birds were rightly referred to this 

 species, or were only large-billed specimens of the 

 Common Crossbill, I cannot say. I have examined 

 two undoubted Parrot Crossbills, shot in a planta- 

 tion near Exmouth, in 1888 ; a male and a female, 

 submitted to me by Mr. Seward the local taxidermist. 



