84 AUTUMNS ON THE SPEY. 



soon saw several little birds, something larger than 

 bullfinches, emerging from the foliage, and, flying 

 one by one towards the tree that was nearest to 

 me, alight on the very boughs that hung over my 

 head. I could hardly believe my eyes, as I rea- 

 lized the delightful fact that I was actually within 

 a few yards of a whole family of crossbills, loxia 

 curvirostra, busily engaged at their marvellous 

 employment of splitting the fir-cones and extract- 

 ing the seeds. 



Need I say that the recollection of previous 

 bad luck, and even my sufferings from the gnats, 

 were obliterated by such an interesting sight, not 

 the less welcome from its being so unexpected. 

 The very plumage of these little creatures added 

 to the charm of their presence. Some were of a 

 beautiful deep crimson colour, others orange or 

 yellow ; others, again, were clad in a plain brown 

 livery, and all were busily intent on their occupation 

 of rifling the cones, during which they kept flying 

 about from one twig to another, incessantly utter- 

 ing their shrill, monotonous notes. After close 

 observation, I noticed that they seldom attempted 

 to operate upon a cone on the exact spot where it 

 grew, but after Knapping one off from a slender 

 terminal twig, each bird would hop or fly to the 

 central part of the branch, and in parrot-like 



