THE CROSSBILI 



-BIRDS. THE SCARLET TANAGER. 



365 



meet with in birds, led some of the older naturalists 

 into curious errors, Buffon, especially, venturing so far 

 as to see in it a defect or mistake on the part of nature, 

 which in reality existed only in his own imagination. 

 He inferred, from the position of the mandibles, that 

 the bird could never bring their points into contact so 



Fig. 118. 



Head of Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra). 



as to pick up seeds, and therefore, that it was compelled 

 to take up all its food at the side of the bill. In this, 

 as in so many other cases, the researches of subsequent 

 naturalists have shown that the great French writer 

 was rather too hasty in accusing nature of error, and that 

 the beak of the Crossbill is really as perfectly adapted 

 to its wants as that of any other bird fig. 118 a 

 great portion of its food consists of the seeds of the 

 pines and firs, amongst which it dwells, and, in order 

 to get at these, it has to wrench asunder the hard scales 

 of the cones in which the seeds are concealed. For 

 this purpose it insinuates the point of its bill between 

 the scales, and then, by a powerful twisting motion, 

 tears them asunder ; the seed is then exposed, and the 

 bird, in spite of Buffon, brings the tips of its mandibles 

 together, picks out the seed, and eats it in the ordinary 

 way. It is, of course, by the movement of the lower 

 jaw that this effect is produced ; and Mr. Yarrell, who 

 has given a long description of its mechanism, states 

 that the lower mandible of a specimen examined by 

 him was capable of moving to a distance of three- 

 eighths of an inch from the upper mandible, on the side 

 upon which it lay in repose, although it could not be 

 carried further in the opposite direction than so as to 

 bring the two points into contact. The muscles of the 

 lower jaw, on the side towards which it moves, are far 

 stronger than those of the other side ; and so great is 

 force exerted by the bird, that Townson, who was one 

 of the first to contravene Buffon's assertions, states that, 

 on giving almonds in the shell to some specimens in 

 his possession, they readily got at the kernels by first 

 picking a small hole in the shell, and then wrenching 

 off pieces with the lower mandible. The seeds of fir- 

 cones are not, however, the only food of this bird, for 

 it appears to have a liking for seeds of all kinds, and 

 in this country, where it has made its appearance in 

 autumn in considerable numbers, it has occasioned 

 great destruction among the apples, which it splits 

 with a single stroke of its bill, merely for the purpose 

 of getting at the seeds. 



Sometimes, although rarely, the Crossbill has been 



known to breed in this country, its true European home, 

 as already stated, being in the vast pine forests of 

 Germany and the northern parts of the continent. The 

 nest is built among the branches of the pine trees, and 

 composed of grasses, with a few twigs on the outside, 

 and a lining of fine grass and hair within. The young 

 birds in the nest do not present the peculiar crossing 

 of the mandibles characteristic of the adult, this being 

 unnecessary to them as long as they are supplied with 

 food by their parents. 



The general appearance of the Common Crossbill is 

 shown in our figure above cited. Its length is about 

 seven inches. In confinement it is very parrot-like in 

 many of its actions, frequently climbing about the 

 wires of its cage with the assistance of its hooked beak. 

 In Germany, where they are abundant, these birds 

 constitute a favourite article of food, and are regularly 

 exposed for sale in the markets, as larks are with us. 



THE PARROT CROSSBILL (Loxia, PUyopsittacus) is 

 a rather larger species than the preceding, measuring 

 upwards of seven inches and a half in length, but in 

 most respects closely resembles the Common Crossbill. 

 It is an inhabitant of the European pine forests, and 

 has only occasionally been seen in this country. It 

 does not appear to occur in America. 



THE WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL (Loxia leucop- 

 tera), which is easily distinguished by the two white 

 bands crossing its blackish wings, is, like the Common 

 Crossbill, an inhabitant of the northern parts of both 

 hemispheres, but does not appear to be abundant any- 

 where. It has occasionally been killed in England. 

 The whole length of this bird is about six inches. 



THE RAKA (Phytotoma Kara), a native of Chili, is 

 another of the large-billed Finches, but differs from all 

 the preceding species in having the margins of the 

 upper mandible finely toothed. It is a rather large 

 species in this family, being about the size of a quail ; 

 its plumage is dingy-gray on the back, and lighter -gray 

 on the lower surface. Its cry is rough, and resembles 

 the name Mara given to it by the inhabitants of Chili. 

 The food of this species consists of plants, and it has 

 the " bad habit," as Molina calls it, of cutting these off 

 close to the earth before eating them, so that, as it 

 frequently cuts down far more than it requires for 

 its consumption, it is regarded as an enemy by the 

 peasants, whose fields it invades. This habit is alluded 

 to in its scientific name, which signifies plant-cutter. 

 Two other species are known, both inhabitants of 

 South America. 



THE SCARLET TANAGER (Pyranga rubra). The 

 Tanagers form a very numerous group of the great 

 family of the Finches, considerably more than two 

 hundred species of them being already described. They 

 are all inhabitants of the warmer parts of America, 

 where many of them are amongst the most brilliant 

 ornaments of the forests. They are distinguished from 

 the other Finches by the presence of a notch or undu- 

 lation on each side of the upper mandible near the tip, 

 on which account several authors have placed them 

 amongst the Dentirostral birds in the vicinity of the 

 Ampelidae and Orioles ; but their true affinities seem to 

 be with the Grosbeaks, to which we shall next have 

 to allude. 



