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jun., agrees with us, and writes that he himself has no doubt that several of the recorded British 

 specimens have been only large varieties of the Common Crossbill. 



Our friend, the well-known British ornithologist, Mr. F. Bond informs us that he possesses 

 three British-killed examples of this species : the first, an old female, was one of five shot in 

 March 1842, by a policeman, out of a flock of eleven, in a fir plantation near Lymington, Hants; 

 and the other two were procured near Christchurch in March 1862. He also had a fine male 

 killed at Southgate in 1862, which is now in the possession of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. Mr. R. 

 Gray gives four instances of its having been met with in Scotland — at Wemyss Bay, in Ross- 

 shire, near Lyth, in Caithness, and near Lochend, Inverness ; and Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown writes 

 to us that " two specimens were procured from Boss-shire by Sir W. Jardine in 1833 : ' one was 

 obtained by Mr. G. Auld from some fishermen, in whose boat it alighted whilst at sea, and was 

 kept in confinement for a considerable time ' (P. R. S. Edin. vol. ii. p. 336); and another was 

 found dead near Lyth, in the same county (Caithness) (ibid. p. 342)." 



In Scandinavia it is numerous, though not so frequently met with or in such large numbers as 

 the Common Crossbill. With regard to its range in Norway, Mr. R. Collett writes as follows : — 

 " It is distributed over the southern portion of our country up to Trondhjemsfiord in general, 

 but sparingly ; still it periodically appears in large numbers everywhere, or in certain districts, as 

 for instance near Christiania in 1837 (teste Rasch), near Porsgrund in 1840 (Sch.), and at Land 

 in 1862 (Printz). It is found here and there along the west coast, at Bergen (Koren), Molde 

 (Rasch), and out at Grip in the summer of 1843 (Rasch). Conservator Siebke observed it on the 

 fell-sides of the Dovre in the summer of 1861 above the limits of conifer growth. In July 1870 

 Mr. Friele observed it on Stordo, outside Hardanger, where it is supposed to have bred. Near 

 Christiania it is, on the whole, rare ; but in certain seasons it occurs even more numerously than 

 the Common Crossbill. It generally frequents the woods where conifers and non-evergreen trees 

 are intermixed. It generally appears at intervals of some years at each place, and but rarely 

 remains several successive years in one locality. Of latter years there has not been such an 

 influx all over the country as in 1830 ; and I may state that scarcely a single individual has been 

 procured during the last ten years, excepting a couple of individuals, obtained in July 1870, on 

 Stordoen, outside Stavanger ; at least there have been none recorded in any collection in Norway, 

 though small flocks may have occurred. As a proof of its gipsy-like habits, I may mention that 

 Professor Rasch met with a flock in 1843 on the small fishing-station of Grip, several miles out 

 at sea, off the coast of Romsdal, a place which is free from trees ; indeed scarcely a bush grows 

 there." It inhabits Northern and Central Sweden, where, according to Nilsson, it is sometimes 

 as numerous as the Common Crossbill. In families or in large flocks it ranges through the pine- 

 woods of northern Skane, Blekinge, Smaland, Upland, &c. In the pine-woods of Central and 

 Northern Sweden it is found at all seasons of the year, and occurs in large flocks as early as July 

 or August. When large flocks visit Sodermanland they invariably arrive in October or November. 

 In March or April the larger portion leave, probably for the north, to breed. M. von Wright 

 says that in Finland " it is common throughout the country in the conifer woods. Their call- 

 note is similar to that of the Common Crossbill, but is louder ; and the song also resembles that 

 of that species, except that it is richer." Dresser also met with it in several parts of Finland, 

 especially in the neighbourhood of Wyburg, where he often saw small flocks of them. It 



