l6o OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



wing before he alights, and is marked by the repetition 

 of the leading notes, ' chit, chit,' delivered like a trill, 

 followed by a loud creaking note, ' chwee, chwee,' which 

 the Crossbill repeats with special gusto. The saw- 

 sharpening note resembles that of the Great Tit. 



" The absence of fear of man is remarkable in this 

 species. When I touched a hatching female with a stick, 

 she bit the stick. I then raised her with it, to see if she 

 had eggs ; but she held on to the nest with both feet ; 

 and when the stick slipped away, she sank back into it." 



I remarked the same extraordinary fearlessness in 

 Crossbills in the Black Forest, in 1888, where they 

 were very plentiful. In Ireland I have only seen the 

 bird at Powerscourt, and at Portrane, Maryborough, in 

 March, 1901. 



Mr. Ussher also tells us that before the larch and the 

 fir were largely planted in Ireland these birds fed on 

 apple-pips, and that their presence was betrayed by the 

 sound of splitting and falling apples. Their food now is 

 beech-nuts, ivy-berries, and buds of ash, beech, and 

 larch. 



The bill of the Crossbill was described by Buffon as 

 "an error and defect in nature, and a useless deformity;" 

 it is now known to be admirably adapted to the mode 

 of life of its owner. The upper mandible sometimes 

 inclines to the right, and sometimes to the left ; and in 

 confinement the birds climb about their cages both with 

 beak and claws, like parrots. 



The adult male is usually red or scarlet ; the females 

 are of a greenish-orange, and the young birds of a 

 greenish-grey. 



Seeing a Green Crossbill in a cage at Karlsbad, I 

 asked what bird it was, and they said " Griinaerts." 



