PARROT CROSSBILL. 345 



THE PARROT CROSSBILL. LOXIA PITTYOPSJT- 

 TACUS, Beckstein. Loxia pittyopsittacus, JSech- 

 stein, Sfc. Parrot Crossbill of British authors. 

 The Parrot Crossbill was first noticed as British 

 by Mr Pennant. It was more recently figured 

 b}' Mr Selby in his Illustrations of Ornithology, 

 and Mr Yarrell has given notices of several 

 instances of its capture in England, and states 

 that last year specimens were brought for sale to 

 the London market. The specimen figured by 

 Mr Selby, with another procured along with it, 

 are the only instances we are acquainted with of 

 its occurrence in Scotland. These specimens 

 were obtained by Mr Ross, gunmaker, Edin- 

 burgh, from Ross-shire, so far as we can recollect, 

 from the property of Sir Francis Mackenzie of 

 Garloch. One of them came into my possession, 

 and served for the figure and description given 

 by Mr Selby. The other was for a time lost 

 sight of, but Mr Ross afterwards recovered pos- 

 session, and it is now in Mr Selby's collection. 

 The locality of the specimen in the Edinburgh 

 Museum can scarcely now be authenticated. It 

 does not yet seem to have occurred in Ireland. 

 According to Temminck, it only partially and 

 occasionally visits Holland and France, is pro- 

 bably still more rare in Southern Europe, and 

 is said by the ornithologists of the north to 

 increase in numbers in that direction, being 

 resident and breeding. It is not acknowledged 



