344 
COMMON CROSSBILL. 
around the auriculars there is a broad stripe of 
pale umber brown reaching from the eye ; the 
feathers on the centre of the back have the base 
darker, the tips only being crimson, which gives 
a duller appearance to these parts ; the wings and 
tail are very dark umber brown, tinted with 
crimson on the scapulars, and having the quills 
and secopdaries very narrowly edged with reddish 
white. Another male shot in Roxburghshire in 
July, has all the crimson parts tinged with brown- 
ish green, by that colour occupying the base of 
the feathers, the centre of the back and scapulars 
appearing nearly entirely of a deep shade of that 
colour. In a female shot in November, the upper 
parts, throat, and neck, were of a grayish green, 
the feathers edged with yellowish green on the 
head and back, and on both being dark at the 
base ; the breast and belly were greenish yellow, 
shading into gray on the vent; the under tail 
coverts grayish black, edged with pale yellowish 
gray; wings and tail dark grayish umber brown, 
having the feathers edged with greenish yellow. 
In a young bird procured on the Continent, the 
whole upper parts are umber brown, with the 
yellowish green feathers appearing; underneath 
the throat and sides of the breast are reddish 
yellow, shading into yellowish white in the centre 
of the belly and vent, yach feather marked longi- 
tudinally along the shaft with umber brown ; the 
wings and tail are not so dark, and are edged 
with pale brownish white. 
