MR. F. NORGATE ON CROSSBILLS NESTING IN SUFFOLK. 109 
one “ gay ” cock with much red in its plumage. The throat of 
this nestling contained several .seeds which I believe to be those of 
Piniis sijlvedris divested of their skins, whicli seeds they resembled 
in size, shape, colour, and odour of turpentine. 
I picked up this nest from the ground under the oak where the 
boy had left it. It is largo and very thick and warm, chiefly 
composed of hemp-like libre, probably the inner bark of lime 
twigs, and most likely stolen from tlie lining of a S(|uirrel’s nest. 
On the same day I saw two Crossbills near the nest in the Scotch 
fir ; they were very busy among the cones, the scales of which they 
split and tear without breaking them from the cone, though they 
break the cones off from the trees and drop them on the ground. 
The next day, with two ladders lashed together, I fetched down 
the nest from the fir-tree. The young had left it, evidently not 
many hours before. 
This nest was much like that of a Greenfinch, and quite different 
from that in the oak ; smaller, and built chiefly with dry twigs 
and moss. The young one from the nest in the oak had 
unfortunately been given to a cat, and had lost the tip of the upper 
mandible before it came into my hands. 
Crossbills are well known about here to some of the few natives 
who take an interest in birds, by the name of “ Robin-hawk.” A 
pair is said to have been shot from a nest in a Scotch fir (sevenil 
years ago) near the one where I saw the nest above described. I 
believe there were, at least, three pairs of them here last March. 
