no ANIMAL ARTISANS 



that made by parrots feeding on bird-seed. When 

 tired of work they would run out on to the outer 

 tufts of the pine branches and sun themselves quietly 

 for a few minutes before resuming operations. 



Their striking and characteristic plumage was then 

 clearly seen. The general character of the colouring 

 of these Northern substitutes for parrots is that the 

 male birds are a more or less brilliant rosy red. The 

 shades vary through all grades from rose colour to 

 rusty brown or orange-brown, but an old cock cross- 

 bill ought to carry rose colour in many parts of his 

 plumage, especially on those parts of the back above 

 the tail and under the long feathers of the wing. 

 Many of these Isle of Wight crossbills wore this 

 garment in most resplendent fashion, the brightest 

 and most brilliant tint showing constantly when they 

 fluttered their wings and showed the parts beneath, 

 as they tried to balance themselves on the tips of 

 the pine shoots. Others sitting sunning themselves 

 looked like big red fruit on the trees. 



The females and young birds were all green, like 

 a greenfinch, but with a very marked difference. The 

 plumage is not compact like that of other finches, but 

 soft, and with no edges or shapes of feathers showing 

 anywhere. The dull mossy green of the head, and 

 especially of the breast, was marked with blurred stripes 

 like those on the long-eared owl also a pine-haunting 

 bird, and closely resembling the colour and markings 

 of some of the odd New Zealand parrots which live 

 among mosses and ferns. This striped loose plumage 

 harmonises so exactly with the tint of the pine-needles 



