276 
FRINGILLIM. 
pleton, Esq., is the following note : — " December the 20th, 1819. 
Yesterday heard from Mr. Montgomery of Belfast [a discrimi- 
nating ornithologist], that Mr. Bradford had received a specimen 
of the Loxia Enucleator which was shot at the Cave-hill [vicinity 
of Belfast], and on showing the figure in the Naturalist's Miscel- 
lany, he recognised it to be the bird " 
This species is an extremely rare visitant to Great Britain, but 
has been met with both in England and Scotland. 
THE CROSSBILL. 
Loxia curvirostra, Linn. 
Has long been known as an occasional visitant to Ireland : 
— it has bred here of late years. 
As much popular interest attaches to this bird, on account of the 
remarkable form of its bill, and the imagined rarity of its occur- 
rence, I shall give particular notes on the subject. 
In Harris's History of the County of Down (1744), it is re- 
marked of crossbills, that "many of them were seen at Warings- 
town in 1707." Smith, in his History of Cork (1749), observes, 
that " these birds have been seen in this county, but are rare." 
Rutty, in his Natural History of Dublin (1772), says of the 
crossbill : — "It has been seen at Ireland's Eye, and we have had 
several flights of them to the counties of Wicklow and Dublin, 
particularly in 1714." In the Memoirs and Correspondence of the 
late Sir J. E. Smith, we find the following passage, in a letter 
from Mr. Caldwell, dated Dublin, Eeb. 3rd, 1802 : — "The winter 
here has been severe. * * * Yast flights of crossbills, Loxia 
curvirostra , I believe, made their appearance the latter end of 
August, and staid till the beginning of October. They made 
great havoc in the orchards $ they never ate the apple, but cut it 
to pieces, and picked out the pippins. They came first over to 
the county of Cork, then proceeded to Waterford, Tipperary, 
Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, and Dublin, but no further north. 
* * * They were observed here, I am told, before the hard 
