COMMON CROSSBILL. ;, 



now than formerly by the greater abundance of fir planta- 

 tions, to which they particularly resort to avail themselves 

 of the seeds of the numerous cones, which are their principal 

 food during winter. In the months of July and August 

 their visits, as already noticed, are made to those orchard 

 countries where apples abound, the kernels or pips of which 

 they manage, with their singularly formed beak, to cut 

 down to and extract with ease ; and hence one of the old 

 names by which this bird was known, that of Shell Apple. 

 They are very frequently brought alive to the London 

 market, and many are purchased by individuals to watch 

 their habits in confinement and the changes which take 

 place in their plumage. They feed readily on hempseed, 

 and busy themselves with extracting the seeds from fir 

 cones, occasionally climbing in all directions over the wires 

 of their cage, holding on by their hooked beaks, as well as 

 their claws, like a Parrot. Mr. Gould says he saw in the 

 bird-market of Vienna multitudes of Crossbills exposed for 

 sale, with Swallows, Martins, and many others of the 

 smaller birds, for the purposes of the table : of these the 

 Crossbill appeared to be especially in request, and this is 

 in accordance with the reports of those who have eaten 

 them in this country and pronounced them to be excellent 

 food. 



From the various accounts of this species to be found in 

 the different works devoted to Natural History, it appears 

 to have been seen and obtained in almost every county 

 in England. In Ireland Mr. Thompson says it is an 

 occasional winter visitant, occurring more frequently in the 

 North than in the South. In Scotland it has been killed 

 in various localities, and Mr. Macgillivray gives the follow- 

 ing interesting account from his own observation : " In the 

 autumn of 1821, when walking from Aberdeen to Elgin, by 



