34 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



spots, generally in a kind of zone round the larger 

 end. Occasionally more distributed. Size about 

 66 by -47 in. 



Time. April, May, and June. 



Eemarl-s. Eesident. Notes : song not often 

 heard, but high, shrill, and not unpleasant. Local 

 and other names : Creeper, Tree Climber, Common 

 Creeper. Sits very closely. 



CROSSBILL 



Description of Parent Birds. Length from six 

 and a half to seven inches. Beak rather large, 

 upper mandible turned down and lower up. They 

 do not lie in consequence in a straight line over 

 each other, but cross like the blades of a pair of 

 scissors. The Crossbill varies more according to 

 age, sex, and individual than perhaps any other 

 British bird. 



Sw r aysland gives the following description : " When 

 young the male birds are greenish-brown, with a 

 tinge of olive, the whole being speckled with 

 darker brown ; they are, however, lighter upon the 

 under-parts ; but after the first moult a red tinge 

 prevails, occasioned by the tipping of the feathers 

 with that hue. The red is much darker upon 

 the upper-parts. At the second moulting these 

 colours are lost, and the bird's plumage becomes 

 an olive-brown, shaded over with greenish-yellow 

 upon the back, though it is much lighter upon 

 the under-parts, and is speckled with orange upon 

 the breast and rump. 



" The females are, however, either grey with a 

 little green on the head, breast, and rump, or else 

 speckled in an irregular manner with those colours." 



