32 



with the greatest facility. It lives mostly on the 

 seeds of fir cones, in extracting which it shews 

 great dexterity. 



The visits of this curious and interesting species 

 to our shores occur at irregular periods, an interval 

 of many years sometimes intervening without their 

 making their appearance. The last occasions on 

 which they visited our shores in considerable num- 

 bers were in 1836, 37, 38, during which years they 

 were generally distributed throughout the country. 

 In the visits which they have made since those 

 periods they have come in very limited numbers, and 

 their presence has been confined chiefly to the north 

 of Scotland, where they occasionally breed very 

 early in the season. 



The nest, which is placed in the fork of a branch, 

 is composed of moss, lichens, &c., and lined with 

 feathers. The eggs, four in number, are marked 

 chiefly at the larger ends with irregular patches of 

 dark red, and with minute spots over the other 

 parts. 



The bill of the young birds is not crossed over 

 till they are obliged to seek their own living ; an 

 arrangement which exhibits one of those beautiful 

 provisions of nature under which the formative 

 process remains suspended till the age and neces- 

 sities of the bird require its completion. 



