COMMON CROSSBILL. 343 



have not been yet discovered. In its foreign 

 distribution, the Crossbill ranges extensively over 

 Europe, being more abundant and less migratory 

 towards the north. Specimens of the common 

 bird from. America we have never ourselves had 

 an opportunity of comparing, and can only now 

 mention the opinion of others ; it is certain, how- 

 ever, that if distinct, the alliance of the two is 

 very close. Wilson was of opinion that they 

 were distinct species, and when Buonaparte wrote 

 his observations on Wilson's Nomenclature, he 

 considered that ornithologist in error. In his 

 last work, however, on the Birds of America and 

 Europe, his opinion is again reversed, and they 

 are considered distinct. On the other hand, Mr 

 Audubon, in his second volume of the Ornitholo- 

 gical Biography, says, that he has not " succeeded 

 in detecting any differences sufficient to indicate 

 a specific distinction." * The American bird is 

 spread extensively over the northern and central 

 parts of the northern Continent. 



In the colouring of this species, and the changes 

 it undergoes at various seasons, we are scarcely 

 aware in what manner it is influenced, and 

 without being able completely to note these from 

 observation, it is best to describe the birds in 

 apparently adult plumage. An adult male shot 

 here in last November, was entirely of a yellowish 

 crimson red, most vivid on the crown, breast, 

 and rump, the vent inclining to yellowish white ; 

 * P. 560. 



