FRINGJLLID.E. 



to bright yellow ; thus apparently indicating that the yel- 

 low colour was that of the older livery ; but young males, 

 as before observed, certainly sometimes change at once to 

 yellow, without going through either the red or the orange- 

 coloured stage. The brightest 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 back to dull brown, 

 as dark, or even darker, than their early plumage. This 

 might be the effect of particular food, which is known to 

 exercise such an influence on other birds; but whether 

 having once assumed bright tints, they ever, in a wild and 

 healthy state, go back to olive brown, or more dull co- 

 lours, has not, I believe, been ascertained. 



Young females, from the striated appearance of their 

 first autumn dress acquire a greenish yellow tint on the 

 top of the head, and on the whole of the under surface of 

 the body, mixed with greyish brown ; the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts of primrose-yellow, tinged with green ; wings, 

 tail, and legs, coloured as in the male ; but, as far as I 

 am aware, no females have been found bearing the red- 

 coloured plumage. The lower figure in our group is from 

 a female. 



Mr. Henry Doubleday, of Epping, possesses two skins of 

 the Common Crossbill, having dull white tips to the fea- 

 thers of both sets of the wing-coverts ; these birds, from 

 their bulk and length, I believe to be varieties only ; the 

 true White-winged Crossbill, to be hereafter described, is 

 a very different bird from this, being shorter, and much 

 less robust in its form. 



The Common Crossbill, however, varies a little in size, 

 depending on sex and age. Young males are the smallest, 



