

ON THE OENITHOLOGY OF LAPLAND. 305 



green plumage, in a state of nature, I for one do 

 not hesitate to pronounce it normal. 



This latter dress can never be confounded with 

 the yellow-orange plumage of youth by any one 

 wlio has had opportunities of comparing the two. 



In the summer the red dress of the male cross- 

 bill appears to become darker, and the only change 

 that I can observe in the female is that the yellow 

 shading on the head and rump become brighter 

 with age, but always brightest in the breeding 

 season. 



So much for the changes of plumage. I will 

 now make a few remarks on the habits of the 

 crossbills. I fully agree with Thompson that " he 

 is inclined to consider the crossbills as a wander- 

 ing tribe, having no proper home, but who pitch 

 their tent and take up their residence at a place 

 just so long as it suits them, without contemplat- 

 ing a return to any particular region." 



This is peculiarly the case in our forests. They 

 appear to leave us as suddenly as they come, and 

 as soon as the breeding season is over they leave 

 for other districts, and we see very few, often 

 none, in the summer. It is not every year that 

 we have them, and it is singular that we rarely 

 ever have both the parrot and common crossbill 

 breeding with us in the same year. I take it all 

 depends upon the state of the cones on the pines 



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