124 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 



cones of the latter, and biting off the buds of the former. 

 Their motions greatly reminded me of those of the 

 parrot tribe ; they climbed with equal facility, holding 

 on by beak or feet, and twisting themselves round the 

 boughs in every possible position, all the while uttering 

 a shrill twittering expressive of satisfaction. They 

 remained in the immediate locality for a day or two, 

 but alas ! only to meet the fate of rare birds, for they 

 were so intent on their occupation that the whole of the 

 flock twelve males and three females suffered them- 

 selves to be shot. 



Other birds were killed in March of the same year at 

 RurTord, and in the following April some were also 

 killed in a fir plantation called Ollerton Hills. 



In the year 1849 Mr. H. Wells shot twenty- five on 

 the firtrees surrounding the house of the late Lady 

 Scarborough in the village of Edwinstowe. 



It is rather singular, as noticed by Montagu, that the 

 mandibles of the crossbill do not always cross on the 

 same side. A pair of the flock mentioned above, which 

 I obtained from the person who shot them, vary in this 

 particular, the upper mandible of the male crossing to 

 the right, and that of the female to the left. 



In Macgillivray's account of this species he quotes 

 Yarrell's description of a young one which was taken 

 when only just able to fly, the mandibles of which were 

 quite straight, the under just shutting into the upper, 

 and then makes this curious remark : " It then appears 

 that until the crossbill has used its beak in extracting 

 the seeds from between the scales of the cones of 

 pines and firs, so as by the peculiar action which it 

 employs in so doing to bend the tip of the upper 

 mandible to one side, the curious crossing and elonga- 



