TWO-BARRED CROSSBILL. 57 



form their favourite food are found further 

 north. 



" In the Valley of the Yenesei, the larch and 

 spruce range to lat. 6g°, whilst the Scotch fir only 

 grows as far north as 62^°. The Crossbill breaks 

 off the cone with its beak and ilies with it to a 

 thick bough. The cone is held firmly against the 

 bough with one foot, exactly as a Raptorial bird 

 holds its prey, and the cone is torn to pieces, and 

 the seed extracted with the bill, the outside 

 covering or shell being removed, and the kernel 

 only eaten. The Crossbill also feeds on many 

 other seeds, and is very fond of apples. Meves 

 found them feeding, in South Sweden, on the 

 caterpillar and chrysalis of a small green moth 

 {Tortrix viridana), which is very destructive to 

 oak-trees, and it is said that the Crossbill 

 generally feeds its young upon insects. 



"The nest is usually placed in a pine-tree 

 of some kind, occasionally not more than five 

 feet from the ground, but more often at a much 

 greater elevation. The favourite position seems 

 to be almost at the top of the tree in a cup 

 formed by the forking of the branches; but it 

 is not unfrequently built on a horizontal branch 



