122 



Adult Male (Werniland, March 1868) . Above dark vermilion-red, brighter on the head and on the rump, 

 the colour in the latter part tinged with carmine ; scapulars tinged with dull brick-red ; quills dark 

 brown, narrowly edged on the outer web with reddish ; the inner secondaries and wing-coverts slightly 

 washed with red ; tail dark brown, the outer web of each feather slightly edged with red ; loral space 

 and auriculars marked with brown ; throat, sides of head, and entire uuderparts bright-, almost blood-, 

 red, inclining in some parts to pale vermilion ; lower part of the abdomen in the centre ashy white ; 

 under tail-coverts also ashy white, the centre of each feather being dull brown ; under wing-coverts 

 dirty white ; beak, with the mandibles scarcely so much crossed as in L. curvirosira, dark horn-brown, 

 lighter on the edges; legs brown; iris chestnut-brown. Total length 7 inches, wing 4 - 2, tail 2 - 8, 

 tarsus - 75, culmen TO, height of bill at base - 6, width of lower mandible at base 05. 



Adult Female (Wermland, 10th of March, 1870, from the nest). Head dark grey, washed with greenish 

 yellow, many of the feathers with dark centres ; nape, back, and scapulars dark ashy grey, the margins 

 of the feathers tinged with pale yellow ; feathers on the rump grey, broadly margined with pale greenish 

 yellow ; upper tail-coverts dark grey, margined with ashy grey ; tail dark brown, each feather narrowly 

 edged on the outer web with yellowish grey ; quills similar in colour to the tail, the innermost 

 secondaries being more broadly edged with yellowish grey; wing-coverts somewhat lighter in colour, 

 and washed with yellowish grey ; sides of head, throat, and entire underparts ashy grey, on the breast 

 and abdomen tinged with pale greenish yellow ; under tail-coverts greyish white, each feather with a 

 brown centre ; imder wing-coverts pale grey ; beak, legs, and iris as in the adult male. 



Young (Wyburg, June 1856) . Head, neck, and back dark brown, each feather being edged with grey, giving 

 the appearance of stripes, the head being darkest and the rump lightest, the feathers having broad grey 

 margins ; wings and tail dark brown, the outer web of the feathers edged with light greyish brown ; 

 throat dirty white, marked. with dark brown, the centres of the feathers being narrowly marked with 

 that colour ; entire underparts otherwise dark brown, each feather broadly margined with dirty greyish 

 white ; under wing-coverts dirty greyish white ; beak blackish brown, the under mandible much lighter ; 

 legs greyish brown ; iris brown ; mandibles less crossed than in the adult bird. 



Nestling (Wermland, 12th of April, 1871) . Head and nape dark brown, each feather edged with greyish 

 white, washed with pale yellowish buff; back and scapulars dark brown, broadly edged and tipped with 

 dull rufous ; rump yellowish buff, each feather with a central line of dark brown ; upper tail-coverts 

 dull brown, broadly edged and tipped with rufous-buff; tail very short, dark brown, narrowly edged 

 with light brown ; quills dark brown, margined with light rufous : inner secondaries and wing-coverts 

 broadly margined with reddish buff; entire underparts white, each feather with a central line of dark 

 brown, excepting on the throat; lower part of the breast and abdomen washed with yellowish buff; 

 beak thick and stout, the mandibles not crossed; upper mandible dark brown, lighter along the edge; 

 under mandible light brown, dark along the edge ; legs flesh-grey ; iris brown. 



The range of the present species is much more restricted than that of the Common Crossbill, 

 being confined to Europe, north of the Mediterranean, and west of the Ural Mountains, nor 

 does it wander so far north as L. curvirostra. In Great Britain it is a rare bird. Harting, in 

 his list of British Birds, records over twenty instances of the occurrence of this Crossbill in the 

 United Kingdom, amongst which are some from Shropshire, Notts, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, 

 Hants, Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, and Yorkshire. Some of these occurrences will, however, 

 we think, prove to refer to large examples of the Common Crossbill. In this, Mr. J. H. Gurney, 



