Birds. 7633 



first nest of the crested tit on April 20 ; and the little Panis borealis 

 and middle spotted woodpecker are jnst now going to nest. I have 

 already seen one wild duck's nest with nine eggs, and have taken two 

 nests of the common buzzard, which with iis appears to breed earlier 

 than any of the hawks. I know of a nest of the siskin just finished, 

 and I have no doubt the missel thrush has long since laid. I took my 

 first parrot crossbill's nest, with eggs, on March 6th, and the last on 

 April 16th. But, at the risk of tii'ing your patience, I must now say 

 a few words on the breeding habits of these rare and interesting birds, 

 more especially as the correctness of my remarks on this subject, 

 published in the ' Field ' last autumn, being so directly at variance 

 with all that has yet been written by the naturalists here, has been 

 much doubted. I felt, therefore, not a little anxious to see whether 

 the observations of a fourth season would corroborate those of the 

 three previous ones, and I was determined not to leave a stone 

 unturned. We had a great many parrot crossbills with us in the 

 early winter, and I anxiously watched to see if they would remain 

 here to breed. I hired a man (upon whom 1 could w.ell depend) 

 to watch the birds throughout the whole winter, with strict injunc- 

 tion to him not to shoot one, but to report progress to me every 

 week on their habits. The consequence was that I have been most 

 amply repaid, and have had the good luck to obtain twelve full nests 

 of the parrot crossbill and eggs, one with the young in the downy 

 state, and one with them just flyers. This has been most satis- 

 factory, for what I have seen this spring has completely corroborated 

 my previous remarks, and proved my statement to be correct to the 

 letter, viz., that the breeding season of the crossbill is as well fixed as 

 that of any other bird, and ends about the middle of April (probably 

 varying a week or ten days, but I do not fancy much more, with the 

 season), and does not, as stated by all the writers on the Swedish fauna, 

 extend over a period from the middle of winter to midsummer; more- 

 over, that the nest is never domed, as has been represented by our 

 naturalists, but invariably, according to my observation (and I have 

 seen nearly 100 nests of both species), open and rather shallow, with 

 thick walls built exactly as I have stated in my previous remarks. 



Strange to say, not a single pair of common crossbills bred with us 

 this year. I only saw one flock, and that was early in March ; but they 

 passed over south, and I fancy that they are not so hardy as the parrot 

 crossbill, and in severe winters go further south to breed. As I was 

 determined to be correct this year, in every instance when I took the 

 nest 1 shot one or both old birds, and well I did so, for there is so little 

 VOL. XIX. 2 X 



