70 
The Irish Naturalist. 
May, 
noisy. Five Crossbills were in evidence until February, 1911, 
when they were lost sight of, and no nest was found that spring. 
But at the end of May a pair suddenly appeared, and immediately 
started to build in a large Scotch Pine near the old site. On 
June 16th the nest, which was 45 feet up, contained four eggs, 
almost fresh, of an entirely different type to those found the 
previous season. The ground colour was distinctly green, and 
light spots were distributed over the surface. 
On March 8th, 1912, I climbed to another nest. A tall Scotch 
Pine had been selected midway in a long " belt," only a short 
distance from the original haunt and within one hundred and fifty 
yards of some inhabited houses and farm buildings. The nest 
was 55 feet from the ground and 14 feet out at the end of a strong 
bough. It was conspicuous from below because of the amount 
of white sheep's wool woven into the base. For nearly an hour 
I stayed in the top of the tree, a few feet from the hen, who sat 
hatching with her back towards me. She was rather perturbed, 
and every now and again screwed her head round for an anxious 
survey, but she did not attempt to get off the nest. The cock 
was absent the whole time. The four eggs were white with dark 
brown spots, and were very highly incubated. Five days later 
another nest was begun in this " belt " in the foliage surrounding 
the leader of a giant Scotch Pine. By March 24th the clutch 
was complete — four beautiful white eggs with pale red markings. 
The hen allowed herself to be handled, while the cock perched in 
a neighbouring tree. The last nest of the season, examined on 
April 16th, was in the favourite wood, on a bough ten feet out, 
near the top of a 50-foot Scotch Pine. It held three eggs, richly 
marked with two shades of red. 
In 1913, eighteen Crossbills wintered there, and on P'ebruary 
26th a nest was begun. In three days it had attained large 
proportions, and on March 10th three eggs were being incubated. 
On the 28th the next nest, built in a high tree on the edge of a 
grove overlooking a rough cartway, contained four fresh eggs ; 
and on April 16th a nest on which the female had been sitting 
was empty, with the lining " fluffed up," no doubt the work of 
squirrels. But, back near the old spot, on May 1st, a bird was 
