On the Change of Plumage in the Common Crossbill. 189 



when there is a good show of cones on the pine and fir trees that 

 they come to us in any quantities, and when there is no fruit 

 upon these trees we have no crossbills breeding with us. It is 

 also strange that we never on the same year have both the parrot 

 and common crossbill breeding together. In the spring of 1862 

 we did not take a nest of either bird in our district. In the 

 spring of 1863 I took about thirty nests of the common bird, 

 but only one of the parrot crossbill. In the spring of 1864, 1 did 

 not obtain a nest of either, and this autumn (October, 1864), I 

 observed the parrot crossbills coming down in small flocks (but 

 I saw no common crossbills), and as they invariably stay over 

 the winter, and breed with us when they come in the autumn, 

 I expect to obtain the nests of the parrot crossbill next 

 March, or even February, but not those of the common bird. 

 Another curious fact is this, that whenever I see large flocks 

 of crossbills in our forests late in autumn, so certain am I that 

 we shall have an open winter, without much snow. 



I obtained most of my specimens, and made my observa- 

 tions, chiefly in the very early spring of 1863, when the birds 

 literally swarmed in owe forests ; and as such an opportunity 

 might not occur again for years, I gave orders to my collectors 

 to begin shooting them in November, when I was certain that 

 the autumnal moult would be complete, and up to the end of 

 January, when they began breeding, I had about a dozen 

 specimens regularly brought in to me every week. From first 

 to last above 150 specimens of male birds passed through my 

 hands, and from the examination of these I draw my conclu- 

 sions. As I was much interested in the subject, I consulted 

 all the authorities I had at hand to see if I could find any good 

 description of the change of plumage in these birds. Wil- 

 loughby, Albin, Temminck, Linneeus, Pennant, Montague, 

 Jennyns, Shaw, Thompson, Wood, Morris, Wilson, Nilsson, 

 and Kjarbolling, all lie open upon my table, and hardly two 

 of them seem to agree, or even to afford us any certain clue as 

 to when this chauge of plumage, which most of them notice, 

 takes place, or how long the red livery is worn, or at what age 

 it is assumed. 



A subject, therefore, on which scarcely two naturalists 

 seem agreed, must be an interesting one to investigate. 



Willoughby, Avho wrote in 1668, is quaint, and his style, as 

 is usual with the older authors, "eats short/'' He has 

 evidently got hold of a female bird, which he describes, and 

 adds : " This bird was described in autumn. He that sold it 

 to us told us that it changed colours thrice in the year, being 

 green in autumn, yellow in winter, and red in spring.'" He 

 dwells with much unction on the many spiral convolutions in the 

 intestines, and winds up his description with the following quo- 



