142 FRINGILLID/E. 



country. Many instances have, however, come to light, 

 and probably many young birds of this species are annually 

 bred here, but their building upon lofty trees, and producing 

 their young at so early a period in the year, have rendered 

 the search for their nests often unsuccessful ; among recent 

 accounts of the Crossbill breeding in England, we may 

 notice a communication from Mr. Lewcock of Parnham, 

 to the Zoologist ; it is to the following effect : — " Four or 

 five years ago, the Scotch firs in Holt Forest were cut down, 

 to allow more room for the growth of the young oaks ; 

 when the trees were felled, four nests of the Crossbill 

 were found in their topmost forks; the nests and eggs had 

 much the appearance of those of the gl•eenfinch. ,1 



Another similar notice is from the pen of W. Jordan, Esq., 

 Teignmouth. " These birds were very plentiful in the 

 south of Devonshire during the winters of 1S38-9, and on 

 the 10th of April in the latter year, I saw a nest at Ogwell 

 House, near Newton ; it was built in a spruce fir-tree, 

 and appeared to be constructed in a somewhat similar man- 

 ner to that of the greenfinch. The male had been shot, 

 but the female still continued to attend the nest. 1 ' And 

 in some notes on the Ornithology of Kent, in the same 

 periodica], by J. P Bartlett, it is observed : " these curious 

 and interesting birds visit the fir plantations in this neigh- 

 bourhood in greater or less numbers, nearly every year, 

 appearing in considerable flocks some years, in the autumn, 

 while in others only a few stragglers are to be seen. 

 Although I have myself never found a nest of the Crossbill, 

 I have ascertained from good authority, the fact of their 

 nidification in the fir plantations of Sir H. Oxenden, Bart., 

 at Broome.'" 



From innumerable accounts of the appearance of the Cross- 

 bill in this country and in Scotland, it appears that not a 

 month in the year is without its record : we must therefore 



