10 FRINGILLIDjE. 



Crossbills breed at all seasons. Linnseus, in the account 

 of his Tour in Lapland, mentions having seen Crossbills 

 there on the 22nd of May. 



The most recent account I am acquainted with, of the 

 discovery of the nests and eggs of the Common Crossbill, 

 was supplied to Mr. Charlesworth while conducting the 

 Magazine of Natural History, by H. L. Long, Esq., of 

 Hampton Lodge, near Farnham, Surrey, and appeared 

 in the volume for the year 1839, page 236.* The follow- 

 ing are extracts : "It is now five or six years since 

 I began to observe the Crossbills ; they were at first but 

 few, and rarely seen, now they are in considerable numbers, 

 and visible every day. If they migrate at all in the 

 summer, some of them, the young birds, perhaps, certainly 

 remain behind, for some are to be seen here every month in 

 the year. I, therefore, early in February last, urged upon 

 the attention of the labourers hereabouts, to keep a diligent 

 watch in the plantations ; and this day, April 13th, I have 

 had the satisfaction of receiving a nest with four eggs, 

 from the Holt forest in this neighbourhood. This is the 

 third nest that has been met with in the Holt ; the first 

 was taken with two eggs ; and then, on the 7th of April, 

 one with four young birds, apparently above a fortnight 

 old, which would date the commencement of the nest early 

 in the month of March. These three nests were all found 

 in the thick top of a young Scotch fir, of about thirteen or 

 fourteen years growth. I have thus the pleasure of sending 

 you the top of a young Scotch fir, with the nest of a 

 Crossbill in it. Two of the eggs, and a young bird, the 

 crossing of the mandibles in which is scarcely discoverable ; 

 such a construction of the bill would indeed be useless, as 

 long as the parent birds supplied the food. The contents 



* See also page 310. 



