108 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



CKOSSBILL. 

 Case 116. 



The visits of this curious bird to the south of England 

 are very uncertain. In the northern counties it appears 

 regularly every winter; and in several parts of Scotland 

 it is a permanent resident. 



The Crossbill breeds early in the season. On two 

 or three occasions I have seen large flocks of several 

 hundreds frequenting the fir woods of Eoss and 

 Sutherland in the beginning of July. 



The specimens in the case were obtained near Beauly, 

 Inverness- shire, in July, 1876. 



NIGHTINGALE. 



Case 117. 



Those unaccustomed to a country life are often sur- 

 prised that this noted songster is not a finer or more 

 conspicuous bird. 



The first arrivals usually take place in the beginning 

 of April. The song is then continued for a month or 

 six weeks, after which it is heard no more, the bird 

 simply giving notice of its presence by its curious 

 croaking note of warning to its young. 



Great numbers are annually taken in traps, on their 

 first appearance in the spring, though but a small per- 

 centage of these are ever reared. A few, I suppose, 

 occasionally sing in captivity ; but all that I have ever 

 seen were such a wretched mockery of the bird, in the 

 state in which I have been used to watch it, as to be 

 positively painful to look at. 



The specimens in the case were taken near Plump - 

 ton, in Sussex, in April, 1866. 



