202 CROSSBILL. 
The Crossbill nests throughout the pine-forests of Europe, from 
Lapland to Spain, the Balearic Islands, and Greece, as well as in the 
mountains of Africa (the southern residents having noticeably weaker 
bills than northern examples); and it also frequents the conifer 
growths of Siberia as far as Kamchatka, wintering in North China. 
The pine-woods of Scandinavia and Northern Russia are simul- 
taneously inhabited by a large stout-billed race, formerly distinguished 
as the Parrot-Crossbill, Loxta pityopsittacus, but now esteemed by 
modern authorities as merely one of several forms which Dr. Sharpe 
(Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xii. p. 439) ‘‘does not consider to be worthy 
of even subspecific rank.” This extreme phase merely differs from 
the type in its tendency to larger size, and in the fact that its food 
consists largely of the seeds of the Scotch fir, whereas the smaller 
and commoner form also feeds on the spruce, larch, stone-pine &c. 
The large-billed birds are occasionally obtained in our islands and 
in Central Europe, though they do not migrate far south. Forms 
slightly smaller than the ordinary Crossbill are found in the 
Himalayas and Tibet, Japan, and in North America, but the high- 
lands of Mexico produce a rather larger race. 
The nest, frequently built in February or March, is generally 
placed on the horizontal branch of a fir, often close to the stem, and 
is formed of twigs, surmounted by a cup-shaped structure of dry 
grass, moss, wool and lichen, with a lining of similar but softer 
materials. The eggs, usually 4, and rarely 5 in number, are greyish- 
white, sparsely spotted with several shades of reddish-brown, like 
those of the Greenfinch, but larger: measurements ‘9 by ‘66 in. ; 
those of the Parrot-Crossbill hardly exceeding these dimensions. In 
summer both young and old birds eat caterpillars and the larve of 
insects, but later their food is obtained from larch and fir cones, 
while rowan and other berries, apple-pips and buds are also 
consumed. The note is a g7Z, gzip, gip, chi, chi. 
The adult male has most of the upper and under parts dull 
crimson, which is brightest on the rump (younger birds are orange- 
yellow) ; wings brown, with a pale bar along the edges of the 
coverts ; tail brown; bill, legs and feet dark brown. Average 
length 6°5 in. ; wing 3°38 in. In the female the red is represented 
by greenish-orange, and her plumage is more striated, especially 
before maturity. The young bird is greenish-grey, with a little 
yellow on the rump, and also on the gorget in the cock ; under parts 
much striated ; in the nestling stage the general colour is ash-brown, 
and at three weeks old the bill is still straight, the lower mandible 
shutting within the upper. 
