LOXIA PITYOPSITTACUS, Bechst. 
Parrot Crossbill. 
Loxia curvirostra (var. y) major, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p, 843. 
pytiopsittacus, Bechst. Orn. Tasch. Deutsch., vol. iii. p. 106. 
Crucirostra pinetorum, Meyer, Vog. Liv- und Esthl. p. 71. 
suhpytiopsittacus, Brehm, Handb. der Naturg. Vdg. Deutsch. p. 242. 
Little philosophy is required to divine the purpose of the curiously formed bill of this bird, since even the 
most careless glance would convince us that it has been designed for some special object connected with 
the bird’s economy and mode of life. Had there been no coniferous trees, the form would probably not 
have been in existenee, any more than there would have been honey-feeding Parrots bad there been no 
Eucalypti. So far from an error, a defect of nature, and a useless deformity, as stated by Bulfon, a more 
perfect instrument than the bill of this bird for extracting the seeds from between the scales of the fir- 
cones can scarcely be conceived, just as the bill of the Bullfinch is fitted for shelling the embryo flowers 
and buds of trees. I might, were it necessary, cite numerous other instances of adaptation to a special 
purpose; but I may content myself by stating that the variation in form and structure observable in 
all animals is accompanied by some speciality in their means of obtaining their subsistence. The home of 
the Parrot Crossbill is among the cones which hang on the trees of the interminable forests it inhabits — such 
forests as formerly existed in Scotland, but which are now only to be found in Norway, Sweden, Russia, 
and Siberia. It is true the peculiar class of trees of which these forests are formed extend still further 
south, both in the old and new worlds, and, wherever they exist. Crossbills of one or other species are also 
found. In countries south of the equatorial line, firs and Loxiine birds form no part of their florae and 
faume ; and neither the one nor the other, if introduced, will, in my opinion, ever thrive there. I could enlarge 
upon this subject to any extent, were it not foreign to my present purpose ; but I merely record my opinion 
that none of these isolated forms will live out of their own country, and that it is futile to attempt to alter 
the nature and condition of one or the other. 
Crossbills are wandering birds, moving about from one part of the country to another, according to the 
season and the abundance of cones hanging on their favourite trees ; sometimes they even leave their primeval 
forests, and for a short time visit other districts, as will be seen in my aecount of the Loxia curvirostra. 
Mr. Wheelwright, who has paid speeial attention to their habits and economy in the neighbourhood of 
Gardsjo in Sweden, states that if there be an abundance of fir-cones in autumn, plenty of Crossbills will be 
found breeding there in the following spring — a circumstance which appears to happen about every third or 
fourth year ; and he has observed that, if large flocks are seen in the autumn, the chances are that there will 
be very little snow during the following winter. ' 
Ornithologists are divided in opinion as to the specific value of the Parrot and Common Crossbills, some 
believing that the former is merely a large race of the latter, or vice versa. If this he really true, we may 
also unite with them the Crossbills of Japan, North America, Mexico, and the small species found in the 
Himalayas ; but I do not coincide with this opinion, for the following reasons. When Crossbills are found 
in the Swedish forests, they are almost exclusively of the large or the smaller kind, and seldom, if ever, are 
they found breeding in eompany. Further, if the Himalayan and American birds are one and the same 
with our own, and the Pityopsittacus be merely a larger race, why should it not he found in those countries 
also ? Such, however, is never the case ; and I therefore think that such an opinion must fall to the ground. 
To go into the origin of species would be entering the region of speculation, without obtaining any satisfactory 
proofs as to how these somewhat trifling yet constant differences have been brought about ; and my 
duty in the present work is to deal with things as we find them. I know that Mr. Wheelwright is of 
opinion that the two birds are perfectly distinct. 
Since writing the above, I have read a passage on this very subject from the pen of Mr. Blyth, so perfectly 
coincident that I eould scarcely persuade myself that I had not read it beforehand ; hut I can assure my 
readers that both my own and Mr. Blyth’s opinion were formed independently of eaeh other. The following 
is the passage referred to : — 
“ Mr. Bree doubts the existence of the Parrot Crossbill as a species. If that bird is to be united to 
Loxia curvirostra, why not also the small species of the Himalayas, L. hirnalayana, in which case the differ- 
ence of size in the two extremes is great indeed ? In America the L. mexicana corresponds to the L. pityo- 
psittacus of Europe ; but on the former continent L. mexicana is a more southern species than L. curvirostra, 
whereas in Europe L. pityopsittacus is the more northern species of the two. If all these are to be regarded 
as varieties of one sjiecies, why not also the two White-winged Crossbills of Europe and America respec- 
