98 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



section ai-e 

 birds which 



very little arched, and having two or three keels placed close together. In this 



found the Crossbills and the Buntings, the latter forming a large group of 



are especially developed in the New World. The palate in most of the last-named birds is 



remarkable for a long tubercle, which is very plainly seen in an examination of an ordinary 



Yellow-hammer or common Bunting. The difference in the form of bill between that of a Buntin" 



and true Finch is well represented in Professor Macgillivray's " British Birds." * To the present 



WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 



section belong the Crossbills, perhaps the most interesting bird of the family as regards its structure. 

 The Crossbills, as a rule, are inhabitants of the northern parts of the Old and New Worlds, though the 

 Himalayas possess one species. The name Crossbill is attached to the bird from the peculiar way in 

 which the mandibles cross each other, giving the bill a very singular appearance. All the species are 

 inhabitants of northern climes, where they frequent conifer forests both in the Old and the New World,t 

 " extracting the seeds of pines and firs from the cones by means of their powerful and curiously- 

 constructed bill, the points of which appear to have received their lateral curvature from the force 

 applied in that direction to separate the scales. The hard, spoon-shaped tongue seems to be the 

 instrument by which the seeds are then taken up. They are gregarious, and wander about in search 

 of their favourite food, appearing at intervals in places not usually frequented by them." With 

 regard to the well-known legend of the Crossbill, the verses of Longfellow on the next page 

 will recur to many readers. 



*Plate VIII., Vol. I., Figs. 7, 8. t Macgillivray : "British Birds," I., p. 414. 



