LOXIA CURVIROSTRA, Linn. 
Common Crossbill. 
Loxia curvirostra, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 299. 
crucirostra, Pall. 
Crucirostra abietum, Meyer. 
major, Brehm. 
Coccothraustes curvirostra, Klein, Hist. Av., p. 96. 
Independently of the British Islands, Norway, Sweden, and Northern Germany, the Common Crossbill 
is found throughout the Russian Empire and Northern China ; and it is probable that the bird of this form 
which is so common in Japan is the same species. I have never seen examples from the Himalayas, and do 
not believe that it is found so far south. In France, Switzerland, and the Tyrol its numbers are about 
upon a par with those in the British Islands. Lieutenant Alexander von Homeyer says that a Crossbill 
which he distinguishes as Crucirostra curvirostra, var. balearica, is of common occurrence, even in summer, 
in Majorca (Journ. fiir Ornith. 1862, p. 256). The late Captain Loche states that it is only occasionally 
met with in Algeria; but Mr. O. Salvin, in tbe ‘ Ibis ’ (vol. i. p. 315) mentions having met with a brood just 
out of the nest. 
The rich colouring and foreign appearance which distinguish the Crossbill from the rest of our native 
birds have occasioned its being noticed from the earliest periods; for, long before the times of Ray and 
Linnaeus, records of its appearance in large flocks have been made. “ I have been favoured,” says Mr. 
Yarrell, “ by the Rev. L. B. Larking, of Ryarsh Vicarage, near Maidstone, with a copy of an old MS. which 
refers to this subject in the following terms ; — ‘ That the yeere 1593 was a great and exceeding yeere of 
apples ; and there were great plenty of strange birds, that shewed themselves at the time the apples were 
rype, who fedde upon the kernells only of these apples, and haveinge a bill with one beake wrythinge over 
the other, which would presently bore a greate hole in the apple and make way to the kernells ; they were 
of the bignesse of a Bullfinch, the henne right like the henne of the Bullfinch in colour ; the cock a very 
glorious bird in a manner, al redde or yellowe on the brest, backe, and head. The oldest man living never 
heard or reade of any such-like bird ; and the thinge most to be noted was, that it seemed they came out of 
some country not inhabited ; for that they at the first would abide shooting at them, either with pellet, 
bowe, or other engine, and not remove unitl they were stricken downe ; moreover, they would abide the 
throweing at them insomuch that diverse were stricken downe and killed with often throweing at 
them with apples. They came when the apples were rype, and went away when the apples were clean 
fallen. They were very good meate. ^ 
“ ‘ In Queen Elizabeth’s time, a flock of birds came into Cornwall about harvest, a little bigger than a 
Sparrow, which had bils thwarted crosswise at the end, and with these they would cut an apple in two at 
one snap, eating onely the kernels ; and they made great spoil among the apples.’ 
“In June and July 1791, a bird-catcher at Bath caught one hundred pair, which were generally sold for 
five shillings each. In the winter of 1806, a flock inhabited for a time a clump of firs in a deep sheltered 
valley at Penllergare in Glamorganshire. In 1821, flocks were seen in various parts of the country, 
particularly in Oxford, Worcester, and Warwick shires. In 1828 they appeared in Westmoreland. In 
the winter of 1829 they were numerous in Yorkshire, and have been, I might almost say, plentiful in 
various parts of England from the winter of 1835 to the present time (January 1839), probably induced to 
remain longer in this country now than formerly, by the greater abundance of fir plantations, to which 
they particularly resort to avail themselves of the seeds of the numerous cones, which are their principal 
food during winter.” 
It is quite evident from the above account, that the Crossbill has at various times been very plentiful in 
England ; and that it still pays irregular visits to each and every one of our counties is known to all 
ornithologists ; we have also many proofs that it breeds here. The Duke of Argyll informs me that the bird 
is seen, both in spring and winter, on the Dee. Mr. Joseph Clarke, of Saffron Walden, informed 
Mr. Yarrell that a pair made a nest on an apple-tree in a garden in that town, in the month of March 1833 
or 1835 ; and Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, in their Catalogue of the Birds of Norfolk and Suffolk, mention 
an instance of its nesting in the latter county. Mr. Alfred Newton tells me that a flock frequented the 
plantations at Elveden in Suffolk for about three years, and no doubt bred there, though he did not succeed 
in finding a nest. Mr. Stevenson remarks that a pair, killed in Norfolk in 1856, had jn-obably bred there. 
The late Mr. St. John, in his ‘Tour in Sutherlandshire,’ says, “Whilst fishing in the upper part of the 
