350 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
to be navigable. As regards its being an arm of the sea and subject to the 
tides, he thought the scientific evidence showed it was not. If the depth 
of the water differed from time to time, it was caused by the streams that 
ran into it, and the percolation of the sea through the Chesil Bank. He 
came to the conclusion that the Plaintiff had made out his claim to the 
western portion of the Chesil Bank and the Fleet, and he must, therefore, 
restrain the Defendants from trespassing on the waters of the Fleet west of 
the Abbotsbury stone, and also the western portion of the Chesil Bank above 
high-water mark, He was glad to say that in granting the injunction he 
was not interfering with the fishing industry carried on by the Defendants. 
—Injunction accordingly against the Defendants, but without costs. 
Crossbill breeding in Immature Plumage.—In replying to my note 
(p. 263), Mr. H. A. Macpherson tries (p. 813) to lure your readers away 
from the statement at issue. His point is this :—‘ The interesting point, of 
course, is to find the male Loxia curvirostra breeding in a yellow dress, 
and before assuming the red plumage of maturity.” In the words italicised 
it is assumed by Mr. Macpherson that the young male Crossbill wears the 
yellow dress before acquiring the red dress, and that this yellow dress is 
immature, an assumption directly at variance with the opinions of the most 
careful observers. Here, first, is the admission or opinion of Professor 
Newton (Yarrell, 4th ed. ii. p. 200) :—- By September the young cocks have 
lost much of the striped (sic) appearance, and at their moult begin to assume 
the red plumage of maturity,” &c. This statement agrees fully with 
Mr. J. Hancock’s observations, and it implies also that the red dress (or, as 
it may be styled, the marital dress) of the young males is donned at their 
first moult. Next, in the ‘ Ornithologie Européenne,’ by Degland (vol. i. 
p. 177), are these words:—‘ Des jeunes males, tués le 15 Aout prés de 
Lille, étaient en mue, et offraient quelques plumes rouges sur les parties 
inférieures. A l’age d’un an cette couleur est plus ou moins dominante.” 
Admitting, also, the correctness of the observations recorded by Mr. Dresser 
(‘ Birds of Europe,’ vol. iv. p. 128), that young males do sometimes moult 
directly into the yellow or greenish yellow dress, yet how, even with this 
admission, can the bird in the yellow dress observed by Mr. Ussher have 
been, as Mr. Macpherson says, in the immature plumage. But, as stated 
by Mr. J. Hancock (‘ Birds of Northumberland,’ p. 50), male birds in the 
yellow dress have been observed breeding in the same locality with other 
pairs, the male being in a red dress. To suggest, as Mr. Macpherson 
quotes, that these yellow males are barren birds, without first having care- 
fully examined the state of the sexual organs of freshly-killed specimens in 
the breeding season, is merely jumping at a conclusion, and is most 
probably as inaccurate as Mr. Macpherson’s statement that the yellow 
dress is the dress of an immature male. But enough. The criticism 
about my use of the word “spotted” is perhaps best replied to by asking 
