Thi' Irish Naturalist. 



Mav 



a rather energetic attempt was made to cast ridicule on 

 that suggestion when it was originally put forward by the 

 late R. J. Ussher. I mean the Crossbill. 



The Crossbill is just one of those birds that might 

 conceivably have cause to develop a very elaborate protective 

 colour, because, though it often changes its locality, it is 

 much more constant than most birds in sticking to one 

 kind of environment. Spending nearly its whole time 

 among coniferous trees — of which in Ireland it patronises 

 chiefly the Larch, the Scots Fir, and (as Mr. Nevin Foster 

 informs me) the Douglas Fir- — it is probably of all our 

 birds the most uniform in the matter of its feeding habits. 

 It is also, when feeding, as a rule extremely tame and easy 

 to watch at close quarters. In the " Birds of Ireland," 

 Mr. Ussher states that he looks on the reds and greens of 

 the Crossbill's plumage as a case of protective harmony 

 with the reds and greens of the bark and foliage of the 

 Scots Fir (the Pine, to be more botanically correct), which 

 is one of its favourite trees both for feeding and nesting. 

 Mr. Edmund Selous (" British Bird-Book," vol. i., p. 126) 

 writes of this suggestion in a strain of uproarious dissent, 

 as if he thought it a case of protective coloration run mad. 

 In proof of its absurdity, he quotes some descriptions he 

 has read of the great brilliancy and showiness of the Crossbill 

 in Its natural surroundings — particularly a description by 

 Mr. Cornish, who had seen Crossbills in the Isle of Wight 

 looking " like big red fruit " on the trees on which they 

 sat sunning themselves. I can only say that if Mr. Selous 

 had watched the Crossbills himself he would know that 

 there was no contradiction whatever between Mr. ( Ornish's 

 description and Mr. Ussher's suggestion. Crossbills do sit 

 and sun themselves on the tops of trees, and when in doing 

 so they catch the full sunset glo^\^ as I have sometimes 

 seen them do, they look like bright peonies, and certainly 

 far unlike any one's idea of a protectively-coloured creature. 

 But it is only when the birds arc displaying themselves 

 that they j)resent this a}-)pearance ; and when a party of 

 Crossbills are quietly feeding, scattered amoiig the foliage 

 of a Scots fir-tree, the red of their plumage looks very 

 (lull, more like a hit of old smoky hi ick-work than anything 



