LOXIA CURVIROSTRA. 425 



And by all the world forsaken, 



Sees He how with zealous care 

 At the ruthless nail of iron 



A little bird is striving there : 



Stained with blood, and never tiring, 



With its beak it doth not cease, 

 From the Cross 'twould free the Saviour — 



Its Creator's Son release. 



And the Saviour speaks in mildness — 



4 Blest be thou of all the good ; 

 Bear, as token of this moment, 



Marks of blood and holy rood !' 



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." 



This bird lives in the large pine forests of the north of Europe 

 and America, and only occasionally conies to Britain in large 

 flocks, and may be seen in all the large fir woods in the 

 country, on the seeds of which trees they chiefly feed. The 

 largest flock I remember that visited Fife was in January 1856, 

 when the large fir wood of Stravithie was being cut down (three 

 miles from here). As the men were felling the trees, the birds 

 were clipping the tender tops of the Scotch firs which fell down 

 amongst them. They were so tame that many were killed. 

 This is my last reminiscence of Stravithie Wood, now entirely 

 gone — the railway running through a deep freestone cutting at 

 the west verge of it, where I often rambled in search of birds' 

 nests. The crossbills are early breeders. Selby says, during 

 the summer of 1821 Britain was visited by immense flocks of 

 them, which spread through the country where firs were 

 abundant. They were first seen early in June, mostly females 

 and young birds (the males having the red plumage from the 

 first moult to the end of that year). Many of the females he 

 killed, for their bare breasts showed they had incubated 

 previous to their arrival. They continued till autumn, but 

 kept moving north, as he found them particularly abundant in 

 all the fir tracts of Scotland after they had disappeared south of 

 the Tweed. He says they have repeatedly come since 1821, 

 but never in such numbers, which agrees with my own 

 observations as to their irregular visits, for they never appeared 

 in Fife in such flocks as in 1856 ; but since then they have 

 been found breeding in Scotland and England. So this is 

 another rare bird my young friends may be on the lookout for. 

 If Selby is right, that the young ones accompanied the old 

 2 c 



