200 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



also in August, a considerable number were seen at Spurn, 

 several being brought in to Philip Loten to preserve ; whilst 

 on the 20th of the same month a male in the red plumage 

 came on board a fishing smack off Scarborough. Another 

 extensive incursion took place in the autumn of 1903, and 

 many were observed in the woods in various parts of the 

 county. These three last migrations extended to the Cleveland 

 coast ; in the year 1898 a red male was picked up on the 

 6th of August, on Redcar sands, and in 1894 large flocks 

 frequented the woods in the north-western portion of the 

 district. Again on i6th June 1903, another male in very 

 fine red plumage was killed in a garden at Redcar, and con- 

 siderable numbers were reported during July and August on 

 the coast line southward to Spurn. 



In connection with the 1894 influx it may not be out of 

 place to mention that, on the gih of November, when shooting 

 with Mr. Emerson in Colemire Wood, Swainby, our attention 

 was drawn to a peculiar noise, exactly similar to that made 

 by Pheasants when rising in front of the beaters, but the 

 frequency of which was so unusual as to preclude the idea 

 that it was caused by those birds. My companion at last 

 located the sound in a Scotch fir tree, and discovered that 

 it was caused by some small birds ; on shooting two of them 

 they proved to be Crossbills, and the following day we saw 

 two very large flocks feeding on the fir cones ; they remained 

 in the wood until the succeeding spring, but, so far as we 

 could ascertain, did not nest there. 



[In the woods of Scandinavia and north Russia a large, 

 stout-billed race is found, formerly known as the Parrot 

 Crossbill (Loxia pityopsittacus), now deemed to be unworthy 

 of even sub-specific rank. A female example of this form 

 was procured by Mr. M. Bailey of Flamborough, on 4th 

 August 1866, and acquired by the late W. W. Boulton of 

 Beverley (Zool. 1867, p. 543)]. 



