338 LOXIA. 



the tips of the wing coverts, and forms there a 

 bar across the wing. The under parts are also 

 of the rich carmine red of the upper, becoming 

 paler, and shading into gray on the belly and 

 vent. In the Northern Zoology, the old male, 

 again, " is said to have the head, neck, and under 

 plumage, orange."* According to the last quoted 

 work, a female, " killed in winter, has the head, 

 ears, rump, and tips of the back and neck fea- 

 thers hoary yellow, the rest of the plumage bluish 

 gray. This accords with a European specimen 

 in our possession^ supposed to be an adult female. 

 The tinge of hoary yellow, however, extends to 

 the centres of the feathers on the back and breast, 

 while the colour on the rump is extremely bril- 

 liant. The wings and tail are brownish black, 

 the quills and secondaries edged with grayish 

 white, the tips of the greater and lesser coverts 

 of the same colour forming bars across the wing. 



We have now to examine a very curious and 

 interesting genus, limited in numbers, but con- 

 taining birds whose habits, though often de- 

 scribed, have not been sufficiently observed in 

 this country. The appellation of Loxia, has by 

 modern ornithologists been restricted to these 

 birds, familiarly known as Crossbills from the 

 structure of the bill. They are natives of 

 temperate countries, are strongly formed, possess 

 a powerful flight, and feed chiefly on the seeds 



* Northern Zoology, ii. p. 263. 



