COMMON CROSSBILL. 145 



but even these are bordered, after the autumnal moult, 

 with narrow edges of olive, yellow, or red, which disappear 

 towards the spring, from use or friction. The other parts 

 of the plumage, including the head, back, and scapulars, 

 upper coverts of the tail, and all the under plumage, exhibit 

 such a diversity of shades of yellow, orange, scarlet, green, 

 and olive, in different individuals, that authors have been 

 greatly at variance in their accounts of the plumage that 

 might be assigned to differences of age or sex. Selby in 

 describing a young male, says, " Upper and lower parts tile- 

 red, intermingled with yellowish-grey : quills and tail grey- 

 ish black, margined with yellowish-white. This is the 

 plumage of the male from the first moult till he is one 

 year old, when he acquires the dress of the adult bird ; 

 in which state the tile-red has given place to ash-grey, 

 deeply tinged and tinted with sulphur and lemon yellows." 



The same opinion had been previously expressed by 

 Temminck, in his Manuel, where he assigns to adult and 

 aged males a plumage composed of grey, olive, green, and 

 yellow, in which the former appears to predominate. This 

 author refers the red plumage entirely and exclusively to 

 young males, and supposes that they assume it at their first 

 autumnal moult, and relinquish it on their second, when 

 little more than a year old. 



The great diversity of appearance presented in this species, 

 renders it doubtless very difficult to ascertain precisely to 

 what age different descriptions of plumage may be assigned. 



We are, however, not inclined on this subject to agree 

 with Temminck and other authors, with regard to the 

 red plumage being assignable only to the very young male 

 bird, since observations of our own tend to contradict 

 strongly the supposition. 



Among many individuals that we have examined at various 

 times, was one which led us to be sceptical on the point in 



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