FRINGILLIDJ3. 207 



cheeks, ear-coverts, breast and belly a beautiful 

 bright reddish pink : under tail-coverts white; legs, 

 toes and claws purple-brown. The female differs in 

 having all those parts which are pink in the male 

 a dullish brown, and the grey on the back is a little 

 mixed with the same colour on the margins of the 

 feathers. The young birds are like the female, with- 

 out the black head. 



The eggs are a light bluish green ground colour, 

 with dark purple and lilac spots on the larger end. 



COMMON CROSSBILL, Loxia curvirostra. This very 

 curious bird is a rare occasional visitant in these parts, 

 making its appearance, however, when it does come? 

 in large flocks : its stay is not generally of very long 

 duration : the last appearance* here, as far as I know, 

 was about thirty years ago, when many were shot 

 in various parts of the county : two of these in my 

 collection were shot close by here out of a flock that 

 took up its abode in some fir-trees : before that, as 

 long ago as the year 1791, Colonel Montagu records 

 a great invasion of these birds in the neighbourhood 

 of Bath ; so great were their numbers on that occa- 

 sion that one bird-catcher took as many as a hundred 

 pairs in the months of June and July. Yarrell 

 mentions several other years, especially 1836, 1837 

 and 1838, as great Crossbill years : it was in one of 



* Several of these birds made their appearance near 

 Taunton in December, 1868. 



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