BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 35 



Professor Newton, in describing the male with 

 the second dress on, says: "A red male that had 

 completed his first autumnal moult had the bill 

 dull reddish-brown, darkest towards the tip of the 

 upper mandible ; irides dark brown ; the head, 

 rump, throat, breast, and belly tile-red ; the feathers 

 on the back mixed with brown, producing a chest- 

 nut brown ; wing and tail feathers nearly uniform 

 dark brown ; vent and lower tail-coverts greyish- 

 white ; legs, toes, and claws dark brown. 

 Young females, after their first striated dress, 

 acquire a greenish -yellow tint on the crown and 

 the lower parts of the body mixed with greyish- 

 brown ; the rump and upper tail-coverts of primrose 

 yellow tinged with green ; wings, tail, and legs 

 as in the male." 



A celebrated Continental authority, writing upon 

 the matter, says: "If the Crossbills are grey or 

 speckled, they are young ; if red, they are one year 

 old and have just moulted ; if carmine, they are 

 just about to moult for the second time ; if spotted 

 with red and yellow, they are two^years old and 

 in full feather." 



Situation and Locality. On the branches of 

 Scotch and other fir-trees, sometimes quite close 

 to the bole or stem, at others some distance away 

 on a horizontal branch at varying heights from 

 the ground. Generally in plantations of cone- 

 bearing trees over the greater portion of England, 

 Scotland, and in Ireland, where suitable plantations 

 are to be met with. The bird is very sparsely 

 distributed, and uncertain in its patronisation of 

 recognised breeding haunts. It is most numerous 

 in the central counties of Scotland. 



Materials. Twigs, roots, coarse dead grass, lined 

 internally with finer grass, hairs, and feathers. It 

 D 2 



