NOTES. 195 



is sometimes to the right of the lower, and in some 

 individuals to the left. The muscles for opening and 

 closing the jaws, and those parts of the skull to which they 

 are attached, are far larger on the side to which the lower 

 mandible is twisted. The bird thus provides an instance of 

 pure dimorphism, which is a much rarer thing than dichroism 

 in British birds ; indeed, it is probably the only case. 



Fredk. J. Stubbs. 



TWO-BARRED CROSSBILLS IN SCOTLAND. 



Among the flocks of Common Crossbills at Fair Isle and also 

 at the Flannan Islands "adult males of the Two-barred 

 Crossbill (Loxia bifasciata) were detected and obtained " 

 (W. E. Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1909, p. 217). 



LATE NESTING OF THE CIRL BUNTING. 



I can confirm Mr. Norman Gilroy's note as to the late 

 breeding and abundance of the Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus) in 

 south Devon (antea, p. 125). In the course of a few weeks' 

 stay in south-east Devon in August on the coast, I found 

 five nests of this species up the various " coombes" within a 

 radius of a few miles, besides seeing several broods of flown 

 young, fed by the parent birds. One nest contained — on 

 August 28th — three eggs, a few days incubated. The other 

 nests had young in various stages ; two nests with four 

 young each, one with two young, and one with one young 

 bird. The latest date on which I saw young in the nest was 

 September 2nd. 



All the nests were built in roadside hedges and — as I have 

 invariably found to be the case — placed on the fieldside of 

 the hedge and clear of the ground or bank. Green moss was 

 largely used in the construction of these nests, a material 

 rarely found in the nests of the Yellowhammer. One of the 

 reasons for the late nesting may be the prevalence of the 

 common grasshopper in August, which in this month I found 

 formed the chief food-supply of the young as noted by 

 Montagu in south Devon in his day. It is probable that the 

 bird in some seasons, like the Yellowhammer, is treble 

 brooded in the south-west counties. 



The Cirl Bunting and Yellowhammer were the only birds 

 in song, the former being the most in evidence, often singing 

 when the hen bird was feeding young in the nest. 



Sidney G. Cummings. 



