4876 Tue ZooLocist—APRIL, 1876. 
collected varieties of a great many species. My bird has not a particle of 
the original green about it; but it is not an albino, on account of the 
beautiful yellow hue with which the plumage is suffused. I have also a 
pied greenfinch, but I do not think that affects the question—J. H. 
Gurney, jun. 
Crossbills on Salisbury Plain—Skirting the high road,in several places 
are narrow belts of fir, larch, and other trees, and in such situations I 
observed numbers of the lesser redpolls in most grotesque attitudes, accom- 
panied by a smaller number of goldencrested wrens; but was somewhat 
surprised in observing that the common crossbill was by no means rare on 
the larch, upon the cones of which the birds were feeding. In their habits 
they remind one much of a parrot, as they took the small larch-cones in 
their claw, and pulled them to pieces with their beak; but when the cones 
were larger they picked them to pieces as they hung on the branch, and not 
unfrequently descended after the cones which had fallen; and in their atti- 
tudes upon the branches, as well as their descent to the ground, they 
somewhat resembled—in this case—their companions, the lesser redpolls. 
The males sometimes uttered a wild, peculiar trichord sort of song, ascending 
in tone and repeated at intervals. Whether this is the 
‘‘ Songs, like legends, strange to hear,” 
which Longfellow has translated in his poem, I am not prepared to say, but 
it certainly was quite new and interesting to me. I believe it is a generally 
received opinion that the crossbills keep a sentinel on guard upon the top- 
most branches of the trees upon which they are feeding, to give the alarm 
in case of danger. I noticed that one or more birds were conspicuous upon 
the highest branches and made a sort of harsh noise as a warning, but the 
other birds did not seem to take the least notice of it—in this respect unlike 
the fieldfare in a similar situation; indeed, I noticed that the crossbills 
were exceedingly lethargic and very careless about my near approach; a 
stone thrown into the trees had the effect of dislodging some of them, but 
they always returned to the same spot without appearing much annoyed. 
The strength of the mandibles of the crossbill must be immense, as they 
will pull a cone to pieces in an incredibly short space of time ; in fact, much 
quicker than would be possible to accomplish the feat with one’s fingerg, and 
their peculiarly hooked and crossed formation of the mandibles must greatly 
facilitate the operation. These observations were made on December 27th, 
but whether the species visits the same neighbourhood annually, or merely 
pays an “occasional visit,” I am not in a position to say; certain it 
is that their habits are not always identical, as I have seen them more 
than once about the fir woods in the neighbourhood of Ringwood, when 
instead of appearing fearless, as stated in the foregoing note, they were 
very wary and cautious, the birds on the look out giving timely warning 
