75 



The usual number is from 3 to 4, but on one occasion Sandman Eggs. 

 found 5 eggs in a nest. They are handsome and characteristic: blue green 

 in ground colour as a rule, varying somewhat in depth of tone, some eggs 

 being very pale in tint and others varying from yellowish to greyish green. 

 The markings consist generally of a few bold purplish brown blotches, 

 sometimes almost black, and occasionally a dark streak or irregular line, 

 with underlying paler violet grey blotches and spots. Occasionally an egg 

 is closely freckled all over with small spots, and a good many show a 

 tendency towards a zone of markings at the big end, while eggs are some- 

 times found with one or two very large blotches only. The shell is 

 tolerably smooth and shows but little gloss. 



From the last days of May to the first week of July, Meinertzhagen Breeding 

 took a nest with much incubated eggs at Muonioniska on May 30, but Season, 

 this is an unusually early date, and most eggs are laid from the lOt.l^ to 

 the 20t.h of June. The hen is a close sitter, and both sexes are remarkably 

 unsuspicious in their habits. 



Average of 100 eggs (59 by the writer, 24 by Sandman and 17 by Measure- 

 Rey) 26.03 X 17.72 mm.. Max. 30 X 18.5 and 28 X 19.1 mm., Min. 23 X 17 "^ents. 

 and 23.8 X 16.9 mm. A dwarf egg in Newton's collection measures about 

 19X15.7 mm. Average weight of 17 eggs 221 mg. (Rey). 



38. Scotch Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra scotica Hart. 



Plate 26, fig. 8 (Ross, 19. III. 99). 



Eggs: He^vitson, III. Ed. I, pi. LIV, fig. 3. Seebohm, Brit. Birds, 

 pi. 13; id. Col. Fig., pi. 56. Frohawk, Br. Birds, II, pi. V, fig. 180. 



Nest: 0. Lee, II, p. 48. 



Loxia curvirostra L. (partim). Newton, ed. Yarrell, II, p. 187; Dresser, 

 Birds of Europe, IV, p. 127; Saunders, Man., p. 201; Dresser, Man. Pal. 

 Birds, p. 339. L. curvirostra scotica Hart. Hartert, Yog. Pal. Fauna, p. 120. 



Breeding Range: Very common locally in the forests of mid- and 

 north Scotland. 



This strong billed race (frequently mistaken for L. pi/ti/ojjsittacus) British 

 has increased enormously in numbers of late years in Scotland, owing to ^®'®^- 

 the amount of re-foresting that has taken place there. It is now found 

 in abundance from the wooded parts of S. E. Sutherland southward through 

 the counties which form the Moray Basin. Fuller details as to its present 

 distribution in this area will be found in the work of Harvie-Brown and 

 Buckley on the Vert. Fauna of tlie Moray Basin, I, p. 298, etc. On 

 several estates they are now shot down owing to supposed damage done to 

 the forests by destruction of seed- cones. In mid-Scotland it has been 



