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ORD. III. GEN. V. GROSBEAK. 



SPE. II. CROSSBILL. 



PL 6 7 . 



Loxia Curviroftra. Lin. Syjl. I. p. 299. 



Le Bec-croife. BriJ. Om, III. p. 329. 1, p. 27. 



The bill is very ftrong, and formed in a Angular manner : both mandibles 

 curving oppofite ways, and crofting each other : head and back party-coloured 

 with yellow and orange, beautifully fhaded with olive green, and dafhed with 

 dark brown markings : the rump is orange yellow : wings and tail dark brown, 

 approaching to black: legs dark brown: claws black. 



The above is the defcription of a male of the fecond year. The younger 

 birds vary much in colour. In fa£t, it is rare to meet with two males alike in 

 plumage ; the party-coloured feathers breaking out in different places on dif- 

 ferent birds. The adult females are of a dingy olive green ; the rump yellowifhi 

 flight feathers and tail of a dull brown, and the belly is palifh green. 



Thefe birds are numerous in the northern parts of Europe, and fometimes 

 vifit us in great numbers. In 1791, they were in almoft every part of Eng- 

 land. We difcovered them in the fir trees near us in Kent, July the twentieth : 

 they remained until September, and fed on the green fir cones, which they cut 

 from the tree, and held in one foot, like a parrot, to feed on. 



