CROSSBILL -toxia 



is rather a voracious bird, the havoc which it will make in an orchard may be 

 imagined. 



Some persons say that the bird is able to cut an apple in two with a single bite ; but I 

 should fancy that in such cases the apple must be of the smallest and the bird of the 

 largest, for it is hardly larger than the bullfinch, and the head is not at all dispro- 

 portionate in length to the rest of the body. 



This bird is also very fond of the seeds of cone-bearing trees, and haunts the pine-forests 

 in great numbers. While engaged in eating, it breaks the cones from branches, and 

 holding them firmly in its feet after the fashion of the parrots, inserts its beak below the 

 scales, wrenches them away, and with its bone-tipped tongue scoops out the seed. They 

 get their beaks under the scales by partially opening their mouths so as to bring 

 the extremities of the bill immediately over each other, thus forming a kind of wedge. 

 The points of the beak are then easily inserted like a wedge under the scales, and by 

 suddenly drawing the lower mandible sideways, the scale is detached from the cone. 



The power of the beak is quite extraordinary, as the bird evinces no difficulty in 

 breaking open almonds while in their shell, and getting at the kernel. This feat is 

 achieved by pecking a hole in the shell, pushing the point of the beak into the 

 aperture, and then wrenching the shell asunder by a sudden turn of the bill. The 

 apparently clumsy beak is thus shown to be an apparatus adapted in the most perfect 

 manner to the wants of its owner, and to be capable, not only of exerting great force on 

 occasions, but of picking up little seeds as well as could be done by a sparrow or 

 a canary. Indeed, the bird can shell hemp and canary seed with perfect ease and 

 readiness. 



As might be gathered from the description of the habits of the Crossbill, the beak and 

 all its attendants are of very great strength, the muscles on each side of the face being 

 very conspicuous for their size and development. The position of the two mandibles is 

 not at all uniform, nor does it depend, according to some persons, on the sex of the bird. 

 Sometimes the upper mandible is turned to the right and the lower to the left, while 

 in other individuals the reverse arrangement is followed. In either case, the lower 



