18 FRINGILLID.E. 



which they manage, with their singularly formed beak, to cut 

 down to and extract with ease ; and hence one of the old 

 names by which this bird was known, that of Shell Apple, 

 may have a double reference. They are very frequently 

 brought alive to the London market, and many are purchased 

 by individuals to watch their habits in confinement and the 

 changes which take place in their j)lumage. They feed 

 readily on hempseed, and busy themselves wdtli extracting 

 the seeds from fir cones, occasionally climbing in all direc- 

 tions over the wires of their cage, holding on by their hooked 

 beaks, as well as their claws, like a Parrot. Mr. Gould says 

 he saw in the bird-market of Vienna multitudes of Crossbills 

 exposed for sale, with Swallows, Martins, and many others of 

 the smaller birds, for the purposes of the table : of these the 

 Crossbill appeared to be especially in request, and this is in 

 accordance with the reports of those who have eaten them in 

 this country and pronounced them to be excellent food. 



From the various accounts of this species to be found in 

 the different works devoted to Natural History, it appears to 

 have been seen and obtained in almost every county in Eng- 

 land. In Ireland Mr. Thompson says it is an occasional 

 winter visitant, occurring more frequently in the North than 

 in the South. In Scotland it has been killed in various 

 localities, and Mr. Macgillivray gives the following interest- 

 ing account from his own observation : — " In the autumn of 

 1821, when walking from Aberdeen to Elgin, by the way of 

 Glenlivat and along the Spey, I had the pleasure of observ- 

 ing, near the influx of a tributary of that river, a flock of 

 several hundreds of Crossbills busily engaged in shelling the 

 seeds of the berries which hung in clusters on a clump of 

 rowan-trees.* So intent were they on satisfying their 

 hunger, that they seemed not to take the least heed of me ; 

 and as I had not a gun, I was content with gazing on them, 



* The mountain ash. — Pyrvs aucitparia' 



