THE EDINBURGH 



JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



AND OF 



THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



JULY, 1839. 



THE COMMON CROSSBILL FOUND BREEDING IN SCOTLAND. 



That indefatigable and most acute observer of tbe habits of birds, Tho- 

 mas Durham Weir, Esq., of Boghead, some of whose numerous and 

 highly interesting additions to our knowledge of the Ornithology of Scot- 

 land are recorded in the first and second volumes of Macgillivray's History 

 of British Birds, has recently favoured us with an account of the breeding 

 of the Common Crossbill in the counties of Stirling and Linlithgow, which 

 will appear in the third volume of the work just mentioned. A young 

 bird, which had newly left the nest, was shot by him as its parents were 

 feeding it, and as the bird in this state has very seldom been examined, a 

 minute account of it will be interesting to our Ornithological readers. It 

 was killed on the 15th of June. The plumage was not perfect, as the 

 quills and tail-feathers had not received their full growth. 



Length five inches and eight-twelfths ; extent of wings ten ; bill along the 

 ridge seven-twelfths ; wing from flexure three and two-twelfths ; tail one and 

 one-twelfth. The bill is perfectly symmetrical, being rather short, robust, 

 triangular at the base, considerably compressed, and much higher than 

 broad; the outline of the upper mandible decurved, its sides sloping and 

 flattened, the edges straight, sharp, and slightly overlapping; the tip very 

 small, acute, deflected, only one-twelfth of an inch longer than the lower; 

 the lower mandible with the angle broad and rounded, the dorsal line 

 ascending and nearly straight, the edges involute, the tip pointed and a 

 little ascending. The lower jaw is of extreme width at the base, the dis- 

 tance from the exterior of one joint to that of the other being nine-twelfths 

 of an inch. The lateral motion is very great, but there is no greater fa- 

 cility of movement toward one side than to the other, the tip of the man- 

 dibles being separable three and a half twelfths to either side. On the 

 roof of the upper mandible are two longitudinal flattened ridges. The 

 tongue as in the adult. 



The general colour of the plumage of the upper parts is dull greyish- 

 ochre, longitudinally streaked with dusky, the central part of each feather 

 being of the latter colour, which is more decided on the back ; the rump 

 with more yellow, the cheeks and sides of the neck lighter. The lower 

 parts are white, the fore part of the breast tinged with yellow, and the 

 whole under surface streaked with greyish-brown in linear-oblong lines. 

 The quills and coverts are blackish-brown, narrowly edged with pale yel- 

 lowish-brown, as are the tail-feathers. 



Mr Yarrell, in his excellent History of British Birds, describes a young 

 Crossbill, which " was brought from Hampshire at the latter end of 

 March, and was obtained within a fev/ miles of Winchester. Its whole 

 length is only five inches ; the feathers of the wings and tail not yet com- 

 pleted ; the former measuring but three inches from the carpal joint to the 

 end, and the tail-feathers only extending five-eighths of an inch beyond 

 the ends of the upper tail-coverts. This bird cannot have flown far from 

 the nest in which it was reared, and was probably hatched about the be- 

 ginning of March. In the colour of its plumage it very closely resembles 

 those observed on young birds of the year when obtained in June, namely, 

 the head, neck, and upper part of the back, the rump, and all the under 

 surface of the body, greyish-white, streaked longitudinally with dusky 

 brown ; the feathers of the wings and tail hare brown, with narrow edges 

 of pale brown ; the beak, though rather long, has both its mandibles per- 

 fectly straight, the lower one just shutting within the edges of the upper, 

 nor is there the slightest indication to which side either mandible would 

 hereafter be inclined." 

 6 





It thus appears, that until 

 the Crossbill has used its beak 

 in extracting the seeds from be- 

 tween the scales of the cones 

 of pines and firs, so as, by the 

 peculiar action which it em- 

 ploys in so doing, to bend the 

 tip of the upper mandible to one 

 side, the curious crossing and 

 elongation of the tips of the 

 mandibles characteristic of this 

 genus are not observable, the 

 bill being similar to that of a 

 Finch or Sparrow, though 

 stronger and more compressed. 

 In this respect the Crossbills 

 are not singular. Thus the 

 Oyster-catcher, when young, 

 has the tips of both mandibles 

 pointed, and that of the upper 

 considerably elongated ; whereas, by the action of driving limpets 

 from the rocks, the end of the bill is ultimately thinned on either side, 

 so as to become wedge-shaped. It appears that in some degree the 

 bills of Woodpeckers owe their cuneate form to the same cause. The 

 thin edges of the mandibles of many sea-birds, as the Gannets and Phae- 

 tons, become transversely or obliquely fissured by use; and the serratures 

 on the claws of Gannets, Cormorants, aud Herons, have no existence 

 while the young birds remain in their nests. 



The undue prolongation of the mandibles, in consequence of a deflection 

 from their natural direction, is frequently observed in the Rook, which, on 

 account of its habits, is peculiarly liable to this accident. It is also not 

 unfrequently seen in cage-birds. The elongation of the upper mandible 

 invariably takes place in all birds which, by captivity, are prevented from 

 using their bills in the natural manner or degree, and is usually very con- 

 spicuous in tame Eagles and Parrots. This abnormal growth is not con- 

 fined to the mandibles, but is common to all horny parts, as the claws 

 and hoofs of birds and quadrupeds, as well as the horns of the Rumi- 

 nantia, and extends even to the teeth, as is naturally seen in the Hog 

 genus, and accidentally in the Glires. 



THE ELOOD-HODND. 



The first part of an original and valuable paper upon some varieties of 

 the Dog has lately appeared in one of the Dublin Medical Journals, with 

 a short account of which we shall gratify our readers. It is devoted to 

 some kinds of Blood-hounds, and seems the result of long and patient re- 

 search and observation. It is anonymous, which we regret. 



" There are three Dogs at present known under the name of Blood- 

 hound, which, though by some considered distinct from one another, I 

 am disposed to regard as varieties of the same animal, the difference in 

 their appearance being probably owing to climate, if not, indeed, to some 

 intentional or accidental cross. These varieties are the African, the 

 Cuban or Spanish, and the British. 



" The first, viz. the African, I am inclined to regard as the original 



