NOTES. 203 



LESSER REDPOLL NESTING IN ESSEX. 



I DO not know whether there are any records of the Lesser 

 Redpoll's nesting in Essex, but probably, in any case, instances 

 are sufficiently uncommon to be worth noticing. A pair 

 built a nest this year at the very top of a standard pear tree 

 in my garden at Chelmsford. On July 28th the pair of old 

 birds were accompanied by two young ones, and this little 

 family party, a rather noisy one, remained about here for 

 two or three weeks off and on, but have now apparently quite 

 disappeared. The nest, on examination, proved to contain 

 one much decomposed young one, so that apparently the 

 clutch consisted of three eggs. 



Leonard Gray. 



BREEDING OF THE CROSSBILL IN COUNTY DUBLIN. 



Although the common Crossbill {Loxia curvirostra) has been 

 noticed on several occasions in the Scalp, and elsewhere, in 

 CO. Dublin, there is no note of its having bred in the county, 

 and all records of its appearances have been, I think, in June, 

 July, or August, when small flocks usually wander over the 

 country. The following notes of its breeding in co. Dublin 

 this year may therefore be of interest. 



About mid- June, 1907, Mr. C. V. Stoney and myself saw 

 a flock of fifteen Crossbills in the Scalp. This flock had in- 

 creased to about twenty birds in August. They never left 

 the neighbourhood during September, October, November, 

 December, and in January we commenced to search most 

 carefully for a nest. By March 7th the flock had been reduced 

 to three or four pairs, and still there was no sign of a nest. 

 On March 16th Mr. Stoney heard a Crossbill singing in the fir 

 woods, and while trying to locate the bird he saw another 

 Crossbill a few feet from him in a Scotch fir. Watching it, he 

 saw it run along a dead branch of the tree with head down, 

 and nip off with its bill a twig, and fly with it into a Scotch 

 fir close by. The nest, about 35 feet up, could be distinctly 

 seen with the aid of glasses, and was just commenced, being 

 a mere platform of twigs, with daylight showing through. 

 On March 28th I climbed to the nest and watched the sitting 

 bird from a distance of about 18 in. for a long while. I 

 touched its back with my fingers before it left the nest, and 

 then it stayed quite near me all the time I was in the tree. 

 The nest, which w^as very compact, was fined with dead 

 grass — no feathers or fur — and it had the usual platform of 

 larch and fir twigs. It contained three eggs, quite different 



