COMMON CROSSBILL. 7 



porting on the higher branches of the tree. I soon suc- 

 ceeded in having three of them killed ; and they proved 

 to be the Loxla curvirostra in fine plumage. They were 

 extremely tame, and seemed unconscious of harm ; for 

 when the first was killed, the rest only flew into the thicker 

 parts of the tree, and it was not until two others were 

 shot, that the remainder took their departure, and I saw 

 no more of them for some days : however, in a short time, 

 three returned, and I did not suffer them to be molested in 

 any way, intending to observe their motions ; but after the 

 recent attack upon them, they were evidently more shy ; 

 still they appeared several times each day on their favourite 

 tree, generally at stated periods, early in the morning, and 

 about four or five o'clock in the afternoon, when I have 

 observed them clinging to a branch and breaking off the 

 pendent cones with a loud snap ; then flying with them in 

 their beak to the upper side of the bough or other conve- 

 nient station, and commence extracting the seeds, holding 

 the cone chiefly in one claw by pressure againt the branch ; 

 yet it often happened that the cone soon fell from the bird's 

 grasp, as it frequently did in the act of detaching them 

 from the tree. I have occasionally seen a Crossbill break a 

 cone off in the middle, and holding the piece in one claw, 

 in the manner of a parrot, tear it in pieces and pick out 

 the seeds. This continued for two or three weeks, when 

 their visits became few and far between, till at length the 

 birds disappeared altogether. Their flight was rapid, 

 making a shrill, though not unmusical note whilst on the 

 wing, and a kind of continuous chirping, like young birds, 

 occasionally when in the tree." In a second letter this 

 gentleman further observes that larger flocks came under 

 his notice later in the year. Their food was gathered from 

 the larch ; they visited the Scotch firs, flitting from branch 

 to branch, but not feeding. While with some friends ob- 



