TWO-BARRED CROSSBILL. 53 



and are found in the northern portions of the 

 old and new Worlds, wherever forests of pine, 

 or larch, or fir-trees flourish. Here it finds the 

 seeds on which it feeds, and for the extraction 

 of which its curious bill is adapted. The latter 

 varies considerably in stoutness and strength, 

 the larger-billed individuals being often called 

 " Parrot " Crossbills in works on British Orni- 

 thology. In the Himalayas the Crossbills are 

 very small, and have been recognised as a distinct 

 species, but they really only constitute a small 

 race of the ordinary form, for between the small 

 size of the Himalayan Crossbill and the species 

 of Northern Europe, the bird of North America 

 is intermediate, so that it is impossible to 

 define any characters by which these races 

 can be recognised, as the size of one over- 

 laps that of the race next in order of dimensions. 

 In the New World we find Crossbills as far 

 south as Mexico, and the curious discovery 

 was made by Mr. John Whitehead last year, 

 of the existence of a species of Crossbill in the 

 mountains of Northern Luzon, in the Philippines, 

 where the presence of the genus had never 

 before been suspected. 



