216 FRINGILLIDyE. 



chiefly of spruces where there were no larches. He says that 

 the note seemed to him sharper than that of the common 

 species. With respect to the nidification of the Two-barred 

 Crossbill no details whatever have been given. The egg 

 is exceedingly rare in collections, and the only specimen as 

 yet figured was laid in a cage. A specimen in the Editor's 

 possession, received through a trusty channel from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Archangel, presents precisely the appearance 

 of an ordinary Crossbill's egg and measures *97 by *66 in. 



The adult male in full plumage has the bill of a dusky 

 horn-colour : the head, neck, mantle and rump are brilliant 

 light crimson-red, the dusky base of the feathers appearing 

 in places and giving a mottled look to the whole ; the scap- 

 ulars and feathers of the back are dull blackish-brown, 

 broadly tipped with the same crimson-red, as are also the 

 upper tail-coverts, but in them the red is mixed with white ; 

 the wings are dark blackish-brown the middle and greater 

 wing-coverts dusky at the base and then pure white, or white 

 tinged with pink, for more than half their length, forming 

 two conspicuous white bands ; the quills are narrowly fringed 

 with reddish- or yellowish-white, and most of them are tipped 

 with white the tertials very broadly ; the tail- quills are also 

 dark brownish-black, edged with white, sometimes tinged 

 with red or yellow on the outer fringe ; the throat, breast and 

 flanks are nearly as the head and greater part of the upper 

 surface ; the belly greyish- white ; the lower tail-coverts dull 

 white tinged with pink, each having a dusky base which runs 

 into a pointed median stripe ; legs, toes and claws, dusky. 



In a male, which had been apparently kept in confine- 

 ment, the head, back, breast and flanks are varied with 

 bright yellow, forming a most gaudy combination of colours. 



The whole length of the male is six inches and a quarter ; 

 the wing from the carpal joint three inches and three quar- 

 ters : the height of the bill at the base from *35 to *45 inch. 



The youngest bird seen by the Editor has much the same 

 striated plumage as the common Crossbill at the same age 

 the white bars on the wings, which are then as conspicuous 

 as in adults, of course excepted. The exact course of the 



