PERCHING BIRDS. 125 



tion of the tips of the mandibles characteristic of this 

 genus are not observable, the bill being similar to that 

 of a finch or sparrow, though stronger and more com- 

 pressed/' 



Surely his meaning in the passage above quoted cannot 

 be that if a young crossbill were taken before it left the 

 nest and prevented from feeding on its favourite food, 

 the crossing of its mandibles would never take place, 

 but that they would remain straight, like those of a 

 finch or a sparrow ! Apparently it is, but to my own 

 mind such an idea carries no weight, for I believe that 

 the deflection of the mandibles would gradually be 

 accomplished, even if the bird never tried their power 

 on a fir-cone. The whole instrument, instead of being 

 as Buffon declared it, a " useless deformity," is a most 

 beautiful adaptation of means to an end, for when the 

 points of the mandibles are brought together and 

 inserted beneath the edge of a scale, the very powerful 

 muscles by which they are moved across each other gives 

 them a wedgelike action, which forces open the scales 

 of the cone and liberates the seeds a process which 

 would be otherwise impracticable to it, and one which 

 finches and sparrows never accomplish. The special 

 development of the muscles of the cheeks in this and 

 the allied species shows clearly the use for which they 

 are manifestly designed, and is sufficient to dissipate the 

 idea contained above. 



Two other members of the genus Loxia have been 

 taken in the district, both being rare stragglers. 



The first, the Parrot Crossbill (L. pityopsittacus) is a 

 native of the north of Europe, its stronghold being the 

 pine forests of Norway and Sweden. It is but very 

 seldom that any of this species visit our shores, but in 



