496 NESTING OF THE CROSSBILL. 



mandible is that which is used for the wrenching asunder of the coverings which liide 

 its food. 



The Crossbill is not common in this country, although when it does make its 

 appearance it generally comes over in flocks. Usually it consorts in little assemblies 

 consisting of the parents and their young, but it has often been known to associate in 

 considerable numbers. It is a very shy bird, and has a peculiar knack of concealing 

 itself at a moment's notice, pressing itself closely upon the branches at the least alarm, 

 and remaining without a movement or a sound to indicate its position until the danger 

 has departed. 



Mr. Yarrell mentions that on one occasion he had succeeded in shooting seven of these 

 birds upon a tree, and as they still hung upon the boughs, one of the party volunteered 

 to climb the tree in search of them. When he had got among the branches, a flock of 

 eighteen or twenty Crossbills suddenly flew out, uttering a shrill sharp cry of alarm. 

 Sometimes flocks of great extent have been noticed in England, upwards of a hundred 

 individuals having been seen in a single flock. 



In Sweden and Norway the Crossbill is a very common bird; and the north of 

 Europe seems to be their proper breeding-place. 



The nests are always placed in rather close proximity, so that if one nest is found, 

 others are sure to be at no great distance. The nest is made of little fir-twigs, mosses, 

 and wool, and is of rather a loose texture. It is always found upon the part of the 

 branch that is nearest to the stem. The fir is the tree that is almost always if not 

 invariably employed by this bird as the nesting-place. The eggs are generally three, but 

 sometimes four in number, and are something like those of the greenfinch, but rather 

 larger. 



The nest is generally built at the end of February or the beginning of March, and the 

 young are remarkable from the fact that their beaks are not crossed like those of the 

 parents, but made much like those of any other young bird, the crossing not taking place 

 until they are attaining an age and development which will enable them to shift for 

 themselves. On one or two occasions the Crossbill has been known to make its nest in 

 the British islands. 



The colour of this bird is variable in the extreme, seeming to depend on external 

 circumstances for its difference of tint and depth of hue. 



The adult male assumes several varieties of tint, the plumage being coloured with 

 red, yellow, or orange, which latter hue, as Mr. Yarrell well observes, is partly covered 

 by the mixture of the other two. His description of the different kinds of plumage is 

 very interesting. 



" A red male now before me, that had completed his moult during his first autumn, 

 has the back dull reddish brown, darkest in colour towards the tip of the upper mandible ; 

 the head, rump, throat, breast and belly tile-red ; the feathers on the back mixed with 

 some brown, producing a chestnut brown ; wing-coverts, and quills, and tail-feathers 

 nearly uniform dark brown. 



A second male bird, killed at the same time as the red bird just described, has the 

 head, rump, and under surface of the body pale yellow tinged with green, the back olive- 

 brown ; wings and tail-feathers like those of the red bird. 



A third male, killed at the same time, has the top of the head and the back a mixture 

 of reddish brown and dark orange : the rump reddish orange ; the upper tail-coverts light 

 orange ; the chin, throat, and upper part of the breast red, passing on the lower part of 

 the breast, belly, and sides to orange. 



Red males that have moulted in confinement have changed during the moult to 

 greenish yellow, and others to light yellow ; thus apparently indicating that the yellow 

 colour is that of the older livery ; but young males, as before observed, certainly some- 

 times change at once to yellow, without going through either the red or the orange 

 coloured stages. The lightest colours, whether green, yellow, red, or orange, pervade the 

 feathers of the rump and the upper tail-coverts. 



In captivity I have known several instances of red and yellow coloured specimens 

 changing bank tc dull brown, as dark or even darker than their early plumage. This 



