PASSE RES. ( 179 ) FRINGILLID^. 



THE CROSSBILL. 



SHELL-APPLE, COMMON CROSSBILL. 



Loxia curvirostra. 



And that bird is called the Crossbill ; 



Covered all with blood so clear. 

 In the groves of pine it singeth 



Songs like legends strange to hear. 



Longfellow, The Legend of the Crossbill. 



The peculiar call-note of the Crossbill while passing high 

 overhead in the air, its brightly coloured plumage, and the 

 singular attitudes which it assumes while feeding, all render 

 it an object of attraction. There are, however, very few 

 opportunities of observing this bird in Berwickshire, for it 

 seldom visits the county. Mr. Hardy has informed me that 

 in a letter to him, dated the 9th of May 1857, Mr. W. Cairns, 

 late of Cockburnspath, states that, about 1837, a great flock 

 of these birds frequented Dunglass woods for a time. He 

 has also told me that he had heard from the late Mr. Wilson, 

 of Coldingham, that some Crossbills were seen, and two 

 shot, at Whitecross, about 1838; several having been observed 

 at Whitfield and the Press about the same time. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Kelly, a small flock visited Lauderdale in the 

 winter of 1850, and remained for some weeks in the old fir 

 wood opposite Thirlestane Castle, Crossbills appearing again 

 in that locality in 1857.^ Mr. Cowe has informed me that 

 a male was shot at Dowlaw in 1870. Several small flocks 

 were seen at Paxton in September 1873, where they fed on the 

 cones of the spruce fir trees in the grounds of Paxton House." 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Cluh, vol. vii. p. 303. 



* A few birds of this species appeared at Paxton, and also at Drakcmire 

 Wood, in the second week of August 1888. 



