COMMON CROSSBILL. 7 



ing on the higher branches of the tree. I soon succeeded 

 in having three of them killed ; and they proved to be the 

 Loxia curvirostra in fine plumage. They were extremely 

 tame, and seemed unconscious of harm ; for when the first 

 was killed, the rest only flew into the thicker parts of the 

 tree, and it was not until two others were shot, that the 

 remainder took their departure, and I saw no more of them 

 for some days : however, in a short time, three returned, 

 and I did not suffer them to be molested in any way, 

 intending to observe their motions ; but after the recent 

 attack upon them, they were evidently more shy ; still 

 they appeared several times each day on their favourite 

 tree, generally at stated periods, early in the morning, and 

 about four or five o'clock in the afternoon, when I have 

 observed them clinging to a branch and breaking off the 

 pendent cones with a loud snap ; then flying with them iri 

 their beak to the upper side of the bough or other conveni- 

 ent station, and commence extracting the seeds, holding the 

 cone chiefly in one claw by pressure against the branch ; 

 yet it often happened that the cone soon fell from the bird's 

 grasp, as it frequently did in the act of detaching them 

 from the tree. I have occasionally seen a Crossbill break a 

 cone off in the middle, and holding the piece in one claw, in 

 the manner of a parrot, tear it in pieces and pick out the 

 seeds. This continued for two or three weeks, when their 

 visits became few and far between, till at length the birds 

 disappeared altogether. Their flight was rapid, making a 

 shrill, though not unmusical note whilst on the wing, and a 

 kind of continuous chirping, like young birds, occasionally 

 when in the tree." In a second letter this gentleman 

 further observes that larger flocks came under his notice 

 later in the year. Their food was gathered from the larch ; 

 they visited the Scotch firs, flitting from branch to branch, 



