NOTES. 371 



CROSSBILLS NESTING IN ENGLAND. 

 In Suffolk. 

 On February 27th I found seven Crossbills' nests in a fir-wood 

 in the neighbourhood of Aldeburgh, Suffolk. In three cases 

 the birds had commenced to sit, while the other four nests 

 were not yet finished. The Crossbills were first seen in the 

 particular locality where the nests were found, about the 

 beginning of November, 1909. They were in four distinct 

 flocks of about eight or ten birds each. At the end of 

 December a bird with a stick in its beak was seen to go into 

 a fir tree, but was lost sight of, and we could find no nest or 

 sign of one at the time. One was, however, subsequently 

 found in this tree and was one of those reported above. 

 Crossbills have certainly not decreased in number, and I am 

 certain there were more nests than the seven I found, as I 

 watched a pair collecting nesting material, and they went 

 away with it in quite a different direction to any of the seven 

 nests I knew of, but I lost them in the tops of the fir trees ; 

 and there were certainly other pairs. I notice that they 

 always fly quite straight to the nest when they are building, 

 and seem to take no notice of anyone. All these nests were 

 very high up, and all quite in the tips of the boughs of the 

 Scotch firs. The lowest of the nests was about forty feet and 

 the highest nearer sixty feet from the ground. When the hen 

 is collecting nesting material, the cock bird takes up a position 

 on the highest point of some tree close by. The material 

 used in the present case was the dead bark off lime tree 

 branches, and the cock bird sat on the top of the tree while 

 the hen bird was down below stripping off the bark. As 

 soon as she was ready she made straight for the nest with 

 the cock bird following. Some five or six years ago Crossbills 

 were seen feeding young ones that were able to fly in the 

 same locality, but otherwise, so far as I know, they have not 

 been observed in the neighbourhood. 



E. Fraser Stanford. 



In Norfolk and Berkshire. 

 On February 10th, near Thetford, Norfolk, I found a 

 Crossbill's nest with four well incubated eggs and another 

 nest partially built. The birds were very tame and the 

 nests easy to find. On February 16th, near Aldermanton, 

 Berkshire, I found two Crossbills' nests, one with four 

 eggs and the other with five. The latter were quite fresh, 

 but the former were much incubated. In both cases 

 the cock birds were singing in the trees in which the 



