EUROPEAN WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 243 



Norfolk." With reference to this Thetford specimen, 

 the following communication was made by Mr. C. B. 

 Hunter to the " Zoologist" (p. 1498) : " Four or five of 

 these birds were observed on some fir-trees near Thet- 

 ford, in Norfolk, on the 10th of May last (1846), one of 

 which was shot, and came into the possession of Mr. 

 Robert Reynolds, bird-fancier, of Thetford. About a 

 week before this, Mr. Reynolds purchased a specimen 

 of a bird-stuffer at Bury St. Edmund's, which had but 

 just been set up, and was obtained in that neighbour- 

 hood." This latter example from Bury is now in the 

 possession of Mr. J. H. Gurney, and belongs most un- 

 doubtedly to the European species. Another white- 

 winged crossbill is also recorded by Yarrell, on the 

 authority of the late Mr. Hoy, but of which species is 

 not stated, to have been shot in Suffolk some years 

 since, from a flock of five or six, by Mr. Seaman, of 

 Ipswich. The Norwich museum does not at present 

 possess an example of the European species, but the 

 following are the most marked distinctions, as shown 

 by M. de Selys-Longchamps, between it and the 

 American bird, the Loxia leucoptera of Gmelin. L. 

 bifasciata, larger in size generally, the beak almost as 

 large as that of the common crossbill and less com- 

 pressed, and the points less crossed over and less 

 elongated than in L. leucoptera. The plumage of a 

 duller red, and the tail feathers less forked and more 

 obviously bordered with yellow. To which may also be 

 added that the claw of the hind toe is shorter and not 

 so stout. One authentic instance of the American 

 species having occurred in England is mentioned by 

 Yarrell; a specimen picked up dead on the shore at 

 Exmouth on the 17th of September, 1845, from which 

 the figure in the 3rd edition of his " British Birds" was 

 taken. 



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