CROSS-BEAKS. 153 



flies, some of which they caught as they settled 

 on the weeds, and some as they were on the wing. 

 Notwithstanding what Linnaeus says, I cannot be 

 induced to believe that they are birds of prey. 



This district affords some birds that are hardly 

 ever heard of at Selborne. In the first place, 

 considerable flocks of cross-beaks (loxice curviros- 

 trfe) have appeared this summer in the pine groves 

 belonging to the house [Ringmer, near Lewes] * ; 



1 The species of crossbills are only three in number. 

 One, loxia curvirostra, pays frequent visits, in flocks of from 

 ten to eighty or a hundred in number, during the winter. 

 The loxia pittyopsittacus has only been once recorded 

 as a native of this country, from a specimen killed in Ross- 

 shire, and now in my possession ; it can therefore only be 

 ranked as an occasional visitant ; it is a native of Germany 

 and North America. The third species, loxia falcirostra, 

 also a native of North America, has once been shot within 

 two miles of Belfast, Ireland, the only authenticated instance 

 of its visiting our coasts. In a late number of the Zoological 

 Journal, Mr. Yarrel (whom we have already had occasion to 

 mention as a most persevering naturalist) has supplied some 

 very interesting facts regarding the formation and direction 

 of the beak of the common crossbill, and which, we think, are 

 here worthy of notice : " The beak of the crossbill is alto- 

 gether unique in its form ; the mandibles do not lie upon each 

 other, with their lateral edges in opposition, as in other birds, 

 but curve to the right and left, and always in opposite direc- 

 tions to each other. In some specimens, the upper mandibles 

 curve downwards and to the left the under portion turned 

 upwards, and to the right. When holding the head of this 

 bird in my fingers, I found I could bring the under mandible 

 in a line underneath and touching the point of the upper, but 

 not beyond it, towards the left side ; while, on its own side, 

 the point passed with ease to the distance of3-8ths of an inch. 

 The upper mandible has a limited degree of motion on the 

 cranium the superior maxillary and nasal bones being 

 united to the frontal by flexible bony laminae. 



" The form as well as the magnitude of the processes of 

 some of the bones of the head are also peculiar to this 

 bird. The pterygoid processes of the palatine bones are 

 considerably elongated downwards to afford space for the 



