4C8 BARE BRITISH BIRDS 



TWOBARRED CROSSBILL [Loxia Leucoptera bifascidta (Brehm). French, bec-croise bifascie; 

 German, zweibindiyer Kreuzschnabel; Italian, crociere fasciato]. 



1. Description. The. twobarred-crossbill may be readily recognised by the two bars of 

 white across the wings, this character being found in both sexes, but the adult male otherwise 

 differs from the female in coloration. Length 6'5 in. [165 mm.]. Top of the head and 

 rump deep rose-red ; hinder part of the head and neck ash-brown, faintly margined with 

 dull red ; mantle mixed with ash-brown and deep rose-red ; lesser wing-coverts dark brown, some- 

 times tinged with rose-red ; median coverts white, forming a band ; greater wing-coverts blackish, 

 broadly tipped with white, forming a wing-bar. Tail feathers blackish brown, narrowly edged 

 on the outer web with olive-yellow; cheeks, throat, ear-coverts, chest, and breast rose-pink, 

 darkest on the throat and sides of the body ; lower belly and abdomen whitish ; under tail- 

 coverts ash-brown, broadly margined with white. The adult female much resembles the adult 

 female of the preceding species, but is at once distinguished by the white double wing- bar. 

 [w. P. P. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. The principal breeding grounds of this species are the forests of Northern 

 Russia, especially those of the Archangel government west to Onega, but it is not known to 

 breed in the Kola Peninsula, though a nest is said to have been taken once at Upsala in Sweden. 

 Eastward it is also known to nest in Siberia, but the eastern birds have been distinguished by 

 some ornithologists as a local race, and range east to Kamtschatka and south to Dauria. During 

 winter and on migration it has occurred in France, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austro- 

 Hungary and Poland, and on rare occasions in Italy also. Most English records are from the 

 east coast, also about eleven from Scotland and three from Ireland. [F. c. R. J.] 



[AMERICAN WHITEWINGED-CROSSBILL [Loxia leucoptera leucoptera Gm.]. 



1. Description. Distinguished from the twobarred-crossbill by the wings and secondaries, 

 which are black with two cross bars of white. The sexes differ in coloration. Length 

 6 in. [152 mm.]. Head, neck, mantle, rump, and most of the under parts pinkish red, 

 varying to orange-red ; lower belly greyish white ; under tail-coverts black, broadly margined 

 with white; the wings are black, likewise the scapulars, the former with two white bands 

 formed by the white tips to the middle and greater coverts ; tail and upper tail-coverts black. 

 The adult female has the wings and tail as in the adult male ; feathers of the upper parts 

 blackish brown, margined with yellowish olive ; the rump is uniform bright Naples yellow ; 

 under parts similar to the upper parts but brighter. The young birds are conspicuously streaked 

 above and below with dusky, on an olivaceous ground ; wings and tail much like those of the 

 adult female, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. It is very doubtful whether this species has any right to inclusion in the 

 British list, though it is said to have occurred three times in England. Its breeding grounds 

 are in the forests of Northern Canada, and on migration in winter it reaches North Carolina, 

 Indiana, Illinois, Colorado, and Nevada. Casual in Greenland and said to have occurred on 

 Heligoland. [F. c. R. j.]] 



NORTHERN-BULLFINCH [Pyrrhula pyrrhula pyrrhula (Linnaeus). Russian bullfinch. 

 German, grosser or nordischer Gimpel', Italian, ciuffolotto maggiore]. 



1. Description. Distinguished from the common-bullfinch (see vol. i. p. 81) by its larger 

 size (wing 3 - 75 in. [96 mm.]) and by its brighter coloration. The sexes differ in coloration. 

 Length 6'5 in. [165 mm.]. The adult female resembles the female of the common-bullfinch, 

 but is larger and of a purer grey colour, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. This large form of bullfinch breeds in Southern Scandinavia, and has 

 been met with sparingly in North Norway, and also throughout the greater part of Central and 



