20 FRINGILLID.E. 



more shy ; still tliey appeared several times each day on their 

 favourite tree, generally at stated periods, early in the morn- 

 ing, and about four or five o'clock jn the afternoon, when I 

 have observed them clinging to a branch and breaking off the 

 pendent cones with a loud snap ; then flying with them in 

 their beak to the upper side of the bough or other convenient 

 station, and commence extracting the seeds, holding the cone 

 chiefly in one claw by pressure against the branch ; yet it 

 often happened that the cone soon fell from the bird's grasp, as 

 it frequently did in the act of detaching them from the tree. 

 I have occasionally seen a Crossbill break a cone off in the 

 middle, and holding the piece in one claw, in the manner of 

 a parrot, tear it in pieces and pick out the seeds. This con- 

 tinued for two or three weeks, when their visits became few 

 and far between, till at length the birds disappeared altoge- 

 ther. Their flight was rapid, making a shrill, though not 

 unmusical note whilst on the wing, and a kind of continuous 

 chirping, like young birds, occasionally when in the tree." In 

 a second letter this gentleman further observes that larger 

 flocks came under his notice later in the year. Their food 

 was gathered from the larch ; they visited the Scotch firs, 

 flitting from branch to branch, but not feeding. While 

 with some friends observing a considerable flock, suddenly, 

 as if warned of our presence by a sentinel, we entirely lost 

 sight of them, so completely had they concealed themselves 

 among the branches. On another occasion, having shot two 

 pair from the same trees, after closely searching every tree 

 and not perceiving the slightest movements, one of our party 

 climbed up to reach a bird that was lodged, when eighteen or 

 twenty simultaneously flew out of the same trees, uttering 

 their usual shrill cry. A bird-catcher informed me that he had 

 taken alive near one hundred and fifty during the last summer 

 about the plantations in the vicinity of Bath, and that these 



