CROSSBILL. 
LOXIA CURFIROSTRA. 
Although this species occasionally makes its way to the south of England (where I remember several to have 
been shot by my father’s gamekeeper during the winters of 1848 and 1849), I never met with the Crossbill 
except in the pine-Avoods of the Highlands. I observed a feAv small parties on two or three occasions in 
Perthshire, while in Inverness, Ross-shire, and Sutherland I haA'e had repeated opportunities of studying the 
habits of these singular birds. In many parts of Inverness and Ross-shire I have seen the nests during the 
last feAv years, though, according to what I can learn from keepers and foresters in those districts, the birds 
have entirely deserted several localities in Avhich they were formerly common during the breeding-season. 
In some instances squirrels are considered responsible for the absence of the birds, these animals bein<- 
declared by my informants to have destroyed the eggs. Whether there is any foundation for this charge, I 
have had no chance for forming an opinion based on my own observations. If there is any truth in the 
reports I heard, Crossbills were some years back most plentiful in certain woods, where now only a wandering 
party at times makes its appearance. There is no denying the fact that squirrels are at the present date positively 
swarming in some of these localities ; and it is affirmed that the Crossbills began to fall off in numbers shortly 
after the increase of the squirrels. That these quadrupeds are frequently taken in traps when the eggs of small 
birds are employed as bait, I have had good evidence. This is a plain statement of the case against the 
squirrels; and I leave those who read to form their own judgment. 
It has invariably been in March when I have met with the nests of this species ; the young, I remarked, 
were generally hatched towards the end of the month or early in April. On March 25, 1878, there was a 
heavy fall of snoAv over the north of Scotland ; and while passing through a fir-wood near Inverness, I noticed 
that the snow appeared to be piled to the height of at least four or five inches on the top of some nests I had 
seen a feAv days previously. I did not make a close examination, merely turning the glasses to the nests, 
which Avere at about the height of tAventy-five to thirty feet from the ground. It is a curious fact that in every 
instance the birds must have been sitting at the time, as a feAv days later I watched them feeding their newly 
hatched young at each nest. 
The Scotch fir appears to be most commonly selected by this species for breeding-purposes. The nest is, 
according to my own experience, placed near the upper portion of the tree. I have noticed them in some cases 
as Ioav as fifteen feet ; but the most common elevation seems to be about double that height. 
The brood, after leaving the nest, keep together Avith the old birds for some weeks. I have repeatedly 
observed small parties during May and June frequenting pine-Avoods, in which I was aware the young had 
been brought out. As summer advances, the birds from adjoining glens draw together and form large 
flocks. As far as I was able to judge, they seldom stray to any great distance from their accustomed haunts, 
being usually found within a radius of ten or twenty miles. The largest assemblage I ever met Avith Avas on 
the 7th of July 18G8. The birds composing this gathering must have numbered several hundreds, being 
