COMMON CROSSBILL. 343 
have not been yet discovered. In its foreign 
distribution, the Crossbill ranges extensively over 
Europe, being more abundant and less migratory 
towards the north. Specimens of the common 
bird from America we have never ourselves had 
an opportunity of comparing, and can only now 
mention the opinion of others ; it is certain, how- 
ever, that if distinct, the alliance of the two is 
very close. Wilson was of opinion that they 
were distinct species, and when Buonaparte wrote 
his observations on Wilson's Nomenclature, he 
considered that ornithologist in error. In his 
last work, however, on the Birds of America and 
Europe, his opinion is again reversed, and they 
are considered distinct. On the other hand, Mr 
Audubon, in his second volume of the Ornitholo- 
gical Biography, says, that he lias not “ succeeded 
in detecting any differences sufficient to indicate 
a specific distinction.” * The American bird is 
spread extensively over the northern and central 
parts of the northern Continent. 
In the colouring of this species, and the changes 
it undergoes at various seasons, we are scarcely 
aware in what manner it is influenced, and 
without being able completely to note these from 
observation, it is best to describe the birds in 
apparently adult plumage. An adult male' shot 
here in last November, wa^. entirely of a yellowish 
crimson red, most vivid on the crown, breast, 
and rump, the vent inclining to yellowish white ; 
* P. 560. 
