NOTES. 401 



birds have probably been there all the winter. On March 

 5th and 12th there were several pairs and several small flocks, 

 and although I strongly suspected nesting, I could get no 

 proof of it. On March 25th, however, I watched a cock 

 bird feeding three young, which were well able to fly, while 

 my wife saw another brood, and on that day and the next 

 I watched seven or eight cock birds, which were singing or 

 feeding alone, and evidently had hens sitting. On March 

 27th I noticed a third brood of three young, rather younger 

 than the first brood, and also saw a hen bird with a mouthful 

 of lichen. On April 2nd my wife found a nest, while on the 

 next day, when I had the pleasure of the company of Dr. F. 

 Penrose and Mr. Smith Whiting, we watched a pair of birds 

 building at this nest, and found another pair building. We 

 also made sure that there were now at least four broods of 

 young fledged, three of three each and one of four. On April 

 2nd and 3rd, besides the pairs and broods, there was a flock 

 of twenty to thirty " non-breeding " Crossbills, which I had not 

 noticed before, and I think they were undoubtedly new 

 arrivals, at all events to this particular wood. They seemed 

 to have disappeared the following week. 



The cock birds frequently uttered their rambling, warbling 

 song, whether they were in a flock, or nest-building, or with 

 young ones, or alone. 



The nests were placed in Scotch firs on the fork of horizontal 

 boughs some thirty feet from the ground and some twelve feet 

 from the trunk. The hen did most of the nest-building, 

 cutting off dead twigs even from the tree in which was the nest, 

 and visiting adjacent deciduous trees for lichen and moss. 

 She worked rapidly, and always flew straight to the nest, 

 although we were in full view. The cock sang or fed, but invari- 

 ably kept close to the hen and escorted her everywhere. Once, 

 when she was on the nest for some time, the cock was feeding 

 within a yard of her, and directly she left the nest he imme- 

 diately flew off, dropping the cone he had just plucked and was 

 about to feed upon. Two or three times in the course of half 

 an hour we saw the cock carry stuff to the nest and work it in. 



The young are easily distinguished, even without binoculars, 

 by their grey appearance when flying and by their striped 

 under-parts when perched, even at the tops of the trees. 

 Both parents feed the young — the cock being perhaps more 

 assiduous than the hen. The young shiver their wings when 

 being fed or when wanting food, and continually utter a note 

 similar to the " jip " of the old bird, but more feeble and of 

 a more " squeaky " nature. It was a charming sight to see 



