COMMON CROSSBILL, 25 



autumn dress acquire a gTcenish yellow tint on the top of tlie 

 head, and on the whole of the under surface of the body, 

 mixed with greyish brown ; the rump and upper tail-coverts 

 of primrose-yellow, tinged with green ; wings, tail, and legs, 

 coloured as in the male ; but, as far as I am aware, no fe- 

 males have been found bearing the red-coloured plumage. 

 The lower figure in our group is from a female. 



Mr. Henry Doubleday, of Epping, possesses two skins of 

 the Common Crossbill, having dull white tips to the feathers 

 of both sets of the wing-coverts ; these birds, from their bulk 

 and length, I believe to be varieties only ; the true White- 

 winged Crossbill, to be hereafter described, is a very different 

 bird from this, being shorter, and much less robust in its 

 form. 



The Common Crossbill, however, varies a little in size, 

 depending on sex and age. Young males are the smallest, 

 and seldom measure more than six inches and a quarter in 

 length ; old females are the largest, and frequently measure 

 seven inches in length : the wings rather long and pointed, 

 indicating considerable powers of flight ; the average extent 

 from tip to tip, about eleven inches ; from the carpal joint to 

 the end of the first quill-feather, which is the longest, three 

 inches and three-quarters ; the second quill-feather a very 

 little shorter tlian the first ; the third a little shorter than the 

 second, and the fourth feather one quarter of an inch shorter 

 than the third. 



Besides several skins in my own collection of birds, killed 

 in July, September, November, and January ; some skins 

 selected with reference to particular states of plumage, and 

 opportunities of examining from time to time various speci- 

 mens kept in confinement for observation, I have been fa- 

 voured with many others. W. Wells, Esq. of Redleaf, very 

 kindly sent me some in different states of plumage from 

 Penshurst, where these birds were recently so numerous that 



