92 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
flocks of CrossbiUs. In our own vicinity '^^II^^'^^^^'J^Z' 
rare the first birds having been seen in 1836 , next year 
at the commencement of winter, a smaU flock appeared and 
continued for some months ; and in the November f oUowmg 
(1838,) a party of from fifty to seventy returned, and have 
been seen every week up to the present date, (July 30. 
S- notwithstanding, we have been unable to discover 
the nest or any traces of their having built. During wmter, 
the flock kept together, but after spring they have been seen 
n pa's or small'parties, and it is possible that --e of the 
Sder pme woods, from twelve to fifteen miles distant, may 
have furnished breeding stations, though as yet we have been 
unable to ascertain this."* In a note to Jesse s edition of 
mite's Selborne, pubhshed in 1851, Sir William Jardine 
writes : " In our own vicinity ... for several years P-viou^y 
to 1839 they were regularly seen, but not one has appeared 
since. In one season they remained from November to the 
July following, but no traces of nidifioation eould be dis- 
'"InMev written to the late J. H. Gurney, dated April 1st 
1840 T C. Heysham writes : " I have every reason to 
belieVe that the CrossbiU has entirely left the northern 
cotlies this year ; at least I have not been a^e so Jar j 
see or hear of a single specimen m Cumberland, Northumber 
land or the south of Scotland." { , j 4.„ 
In his MS. notes Dr. Grierson records under date 
October 17th, 1862, that Thomas Maxwell told him that 
Crossbms were " not noticed until about twenty-six years 
ago " (i.e., about 1837) " some seasons they are y ' 
Xr Lsons scarce and not met with ; have ^^^ -^^^^ 
swmton ; they breed as early as the month ^a «h P^ob 
ably have more than one brud {s^c) m the season § It may 
heS be noted that Thomas Maxwell was the prmcipal bird- 
» Nat. Lib., 1839, Vol. XL, pp. 340, 341. 
t White's Selborne, 1851, p. 400; 
t Fauna of Lakeland, 1892, p. 144. 
§ Grierson's MS. Notes, October 17th, 1862. 
