537 



LOXIAD.E. 



LOXIAD^E. 



633 



these processes are spherical (fig. 3, c), and the cavity in the lower 

 jaw destined to receive the process is a circular cup (jig. 5, a) : from 

 the union of these two portions there results an articulation with all 

 the motion and flexibility of the mechanical ball-and-socket joint. 



The lower jaw is very strong and the sides or plates are elevated ; 

 the coronoid processes (fig. 5, 5, b) are prominent, and to these, as well 

 as to the whole outer side of the plates, the temporal muscle is attached. 

 In a head of this bird which had been divested of all the soft parts, 

 Mr. Yarrell found that, on sliding the lower jaw laterally upon the 

 other, as performed by the bird, before the coronoid process is brought 

 into contact with the pterygoid process on its own side, the extreme 

 points of the mandibles were separated laterally to the extent above 

 mentioned (3-8ths of an inch). 



The right side of the head was that to which the lower jaw inclined 

 in the specimen examined by Mr. Yarrell, and on that side the temporal 

 and pyramidal muscles were considerably larger than those on the 

 left (figs. 1, 2, 4, a, b), indicating by their bulk the great lateral power 

 which the bird is capable of exerting. The pterygoid muscles (jig. 2, 

 c, c), on each side were unusually large, the great distance to which 

 the articulated extremities of the lower jaw were removed affording 

 ample space for them, and as the food of the bird consists of small 

 Reeds, a narrow pharynx is sufficient for the purposes of deglutiton. 

 For depressing the lower mandible three muscles are called into 

 action; but only one of these, the great pyramidal (Jigs. 1, 2, 4, b), 

 which covers two other small ones, the triangular and square muscles, 

 is visible. All three have their origin on the occipital portion of the 

 cranium, and are inserted by strong tendons on the under and back 

 part of each extremity of the lower jaw, behind the centre of motion ; 

 they consequently, by their simultaneous contraction, raise the point 

 to which they are attached, and depress the anterior part of the 

 mandible. The lower parts of the ossa quadrata are pushed rather 

 forwards by this compression, with the help of two small muscles 

 (not figured), but whose situation may be explained by a reference to 

 fig. 3. One of these, a small flat muscle, arises from the septum of 

 the orbits behind the small aperture in the septum, and passes down- 

 wards for insertion upon the projecting styloid process of the os 

 quadratum ; the second is a small pyramidal muscle, arising also 

 from the septum, anterior to the other muscle ; and passing down- 

 wards and backwards, is inserted upon the os omoideum : both these, 

 when they contract, pull the os quadratum forwards, and so elevate 

 the other mandible. Thus the depressors of the lower jaw, and the 

 elevators of the upper jaw, act together to separate the mandibles. 

 To close them, the temporal and pterygoid muscles elevate the lower 

 jaw, assisted by the slender slips (Jig. 2, d, d), which, extending 

 forwards to the superior maxillary bones, act in concert by bringing 

 them down. To work the lateral motion, the great pyramidal muscle 

 on the right eide pulls the extremity of the lower jaw, to which it is 

 attached, backwards, the pterygoid muscles of the left side at the 

 same time powerfully assisting by carrying that side of the lower 

 jaw inwards. 



Mr. Yarrell then quotes Mr. Townson, to show the adaptation of 

 these parts to the wants of the bird in feeding. " The great pine- 

 forests, such as the Hartz in Germany," says Mr. Townson, " are the 

 natural places of residence of the crossbeaks, and the seed of the cones 

 of these trees their food ; and it is to pull out the seeds from between 

 the squama;, or scales of the cones, that this structure is given them. 

 Their mode of operation is thus : they first fix themselves across 

 the cone, then bring the points of the maxilla;, from their crossed or 

 lateral position, to be immediately over each other. In this reduced 

 compass they insinuate their beaks between the scales, and then 

 opening them, not in the usual manner, but by drawing the inferior 

 maxilla sideways, force open the scales or squaimc." It is at this 

 stage of the proceeding, observes Mr. Yarrell, that the aid of the 

 tongue becomes necessary ; and here again we have another instance 

 of beautiful adaptation. There is articulated to the anterior extremity 

 of the os hyoides, or bone of the tongue, an additional portion, 

 formed partly of bone, with a horny covering (figs. 6, 7, a). This is 

 narrow, and about 3-8ths of an inch in length, extending forwards 

 and downwards, with the sides curved upwards, and the distal 

 extremity shaped like a scoop somewhat pointed and thin on both 

 edges, the proximal extremity ending in two small processes elongated 

 upwards and backwards above the articulation with the bone of the 

 tongue, each process having inserted upon it a slender muscle 

 (fg>. 6, 7, ft) extending backwards to the glottis and attached to the 

 os hyoides ; and these muscles, by their contraction, extend and raise 

 the scoop-like point. " Underneath the articulation of this horny 

 grooved appendage," continues Mr. Yarrell, " is another small muscle 

 (Jig. 1, c), which is attached at one extremity to the os hyoides, at the 

 other to the moveable piece, and by its action, as an antagonist to the 

 upper muscles, bends the point downwards and backwards ; whilst 

 therefore the points of the beak press the shell from the body of the 

 cone, the tongue, brought forward by its own muscle (genio-hyoideus) 

 U enabled, by the additional muscles described, to direct and insert 

 its cutting scoop beneath the seed, and the food thus dislodged is 

 transferred to the mouth : it will be seen by a reference to the first 

 figure, that when the mandibles are separated laterally in this 

 operation, the bird has an uninterrupted view of the seed in the 

 cavity, with the eyo on that side to which the under mandible is 



curved." So much for Buffon's "error and defect of nature, and 

 deformity." 



Loxia cwvimstra has the following characters : 



Adult and Old Male. -Principal colours of the plumage ash strongly 

 tinged with greenish; front, cheeks, and eyebrows gray, with yellowish 

 and whitish spots; back, small coverts of the wings, and scapulars 

 greenish ; rump yellow ; lower parts yellowish-green ; abdomen gray, 

 with deeper spots; wing- and tail-feathers blackish, bordered with 

 greenish ; great and lesser coverts bordered with yellowish-white; iris 

 and feet brown ; bill horn-colour. Length, about 6 inches. 



Male from its first Moult to the Age of One Year. All the upper 

 and lower parts of the body brick-red, more or less tinged with greenish 

 and yellowish ; wing and tail-feathers black, bordered with reddish- 

 green ; lower coverts of the tail white, with a great brown spot in the 

 centre. 



Young of the Year. -Upper parts gray-brown, clouded with greenish ; 

 rump yellowish ; lower parts whitish, with longitudinal brown and 

 black spots. 



Female. In all agea differing but little from the young ; the plumage 

 is clouded with greenish and yellowish tints. Neither in this species nor 

 in L. Pytiopsittacus does the female ever assume the red livery, which 

 is only peculiar to the male after its first moult up to the age of one 



Loxia cm-virostra (male). Upper figure, young of the year ; lower, adu'.i. 



Such is M. Temmiuck's description in the second edition of his 

 'Manuel' (1820); but in the third part (1835) he states that the 

 principal tints under which the male presents itself are more or less 

 of a brick- or vermilion-red, the middle of the belly being whitish. 

 The males of a year old are of a tarnished-red, of a yellowish-red, of a 

 greenish-yellow, or tarnished-yellow clouded with reddish. The old 

 females have the upper part of the body deep gray, the rump of a 

 yellowish-green, the lower part of the body of a bright-gray clouded 

 with greenish. M. Temminck adds that he has seen males with the 

 summit of the head, belly, and rump of a beautiful yellow, with a 

 large brown band behind the eyes, and the rest of the plumage like 

 the old female. M. Temminck says (in the same part) of the genus 

 generally, that the red or reddish livery of the males is not, as had 

 been erroneously believed, peculiar to a limited period of life, but is 

 the perfect state of plumage in the male sex : after quoting M. Brehm's 

 proofs of the nidification, M. Temminck goes on to state that the old 

 males have a red plumage ; the young a reddish plumage, reddish- 

 yellow, or yellowish ; the females a yellowish-green, and the young a 

 gray or grayish plumage. 



. Mr. Gould (' Birds of Europe ') observes that in the minds of many 

 naturalists some doubts still exist, and that they existed till lately in 

 his own, as to whether the rich rosy-red colouring assumed by this 

 bird is characteristic of the breeding season, or the permanent livery 

 of the adult male. He states that during his recent visit to Vienna 

 he had an opportunity of observing both sexes in every stage, an 

 examination of which afforded him abundant proofs that the red 

 plumage is acquired during the first autumn, for he saw many lately 

 fledged that had their plumage thickly spotted ; others that had 

 partially lost their spotted appearance, and had partly assumed the 

 red colouring ; and others that had their feathers entirely tinted of 

 this colour ; while the adults, as most ornithologists have stated, 

 were characterised by a plumage of olive-greon, which appears to be 

 permanent. 



