108 On the Common Crossbill at Paxton, by Mr. Muirhead, 



ten to twenty birds visited the neighbourhood of Paxton in 

 the month of September last, and fed on the cones of the 

 larch and spruce fir trees in the policy of Paxton House. 

 They appeared to be mostly young birds, and may 

 have been bred in some of the fir woods in the county : as 

 the editor of " The Field," to whom a note of the appearance 

 of the crossbill in Berwickshire was sent, states that in- 

 stances are on record of its having nested in Northumber- 

 land ; and Mr. Turnbull, in his " Birds of East Lothian," 

 mentions that the nest has been found in that county. Mr. 

 R. Gray, in his " Birds of the West of Scotland," relates that 

 the crossbill has nested in several counties in Scotland. It 

 seems to be in the habit of breeding at various times during 

 the spring and summer ; for Mr. St. John, in his " Natural 

 History and Sport in Moray," says that he received a nest 

 and four eggs, which were taken in the Balnagowan woods, 

 near Tain, in Ross-shire, in March, 1854, and also that he 

 has seen old birds feeding newly-flown young ones, at 

 different times, from April to August. He also mentions 

 having discovered the nests of the crossbill in the woods 

 near Dulsie, in Morayshire, but that he never found either 

 eggs or young birds in them, owing to the early and also 

 uncertain periods at which the bird breeds. He likewise 

 says that the nest is easily distinguished from that of any 

 other bird, and that it is flat and loosely built, and can be 

 nearly seen through ; and consists of grass and wool bound 

 together by tolerably large twigs of the fir tree. It is placed 

 on the horizontal branches of the Scotch fir, at no great 

 height from the ground, and in some instances within reach 

 of the hand. The eggs are very similar to those of the 

 greenfinch, but are slightly larger. 



[Crossbills, in small flocks, have been in unusual abund- 

 ance to the south of Edinburgh. Some were shot in February 

 (1874) near Jedburgh ; and in the end of January they were 

 heard of both at Haddon-rig and near Yetholm. The Paxton 

 birds may have been an early detachment of the same 

 stranger visitants.] 



