The CKOssiiiLL. BIRDS. The Scaulet Tanaheh. 
meet with in birds, led some of the older naturalists 
into curious errors, Buffon, especially, venturing so far 
as to see in it a defect or mistake on the part of nature, 
which in reality existed only in his own imagination. 
He iiifen ed, from the position of the mandibles, that 
the bird could never bring their points into contact so 
Fig. 118. 
as to pick up seeds, and therefore, that it was compelled 
to take up all its food at the side of the bill. In this, 
as in so many other cases, the researches of subsequent 
naturalists have shown that the great French wiiter 
was rather too hasty in accusing nature of error, and that 
the beak of the Crossbill is rea% as perfectly adapted 
to its wants as that of any other bird — fig. 118 — a 
great portion of its food consists of the seeds of the 
pines and firs, amongst which it dwells, and, in order 
to get at these, it has to wrench asunder the hard scales 
of the cones in which the seeds are concealed. For 
this purpose it insinuates the point of its bill between 
the scales, and then, by a powerful twisting motion, 
tears them asunder ; the seed is then exposed, and the 
bird, in spite of Buftbn, brings the tips of its mandibles 
together, picks out the seed, and eats it in the ordinary 
way. It is, of course, by the movement of the lower 
jaw that this efl'ect is produced; and Mr. Yarrell, who 
has given a long description of its mechanism, states 
that the lower mandible of a specimen examined by 
him was capable of moving to a distance of three- 
eightbs of an inch from the upper mandible, on the side 
upon which it lay in repose, although it could not be 
carried further in the opposite direction than so as to 
bring the two points into contact. The muscles of the 
lower jaw, on the side towards which it moves, are far 
stronger than those of the other side ; and so great is 
lorce exerted by the bird, that Townson, who was one 
ot the first to contravene Bufibn’s assertions, states that, 
on giving almonds in the shell to some specimens in 
his possession, they readily got at the kernels by first 
picking a small hole in the shell, and then wrenching 
otf pieces with the lower mandible. The seeds of fir- 
cones are not, however, the only food of this bird, for 
it appears to have a liking for seeds of all kinds, and 
in this country, where it has made its appearance in 
autumn in considerable numbers, it has occasioned 
great destruction among the apples, which it splits 
with a single stroke of its bill, merely for the purpose 
of getting at the seeds. 
Sometimes, although rarely, the Crossbill has been 
365 
known to breed in this country, its true European home, 
as already stated, being in the vast pine forests of 
Germany and the northern parts of the continent. The 
nest is built among the branches of the pine trees, and 
composed of grasses, with a few twigs on the outside, 
and a lining of fine grass and hair within. The young 
birds in the nest do not present the peculiar crossing 
of the mandibles characteristic of the adult, this being 
unnecessary to them as long as they are supplied with 
food by their parents. 
The general appearance of the Common Crossbill is 
shown in our figure above cited. Its length is about 
seven .inches. In confinement it is very parrot-like in 
many of its actions, frequently climbing about the 
wires of its cage with the assistance of its hooked beak. 
In Germany, where they are abundant, these birds 
constitute a favourite article of food, and are regularly 
exposed for sale in the markets, as larks are with us. 
THE PARROT CROSSBILL {Loxia Pilyopsittacus) is 
a ratlier larger species than the preceding, measuring 
upwards of seven inches and a half in length, but in 
most respects closely resembles the Common Crossbill. 
It is an inhabitant of the European pine forests, and 
has only occasionally been seen in this country. It 
does not appear to occur in America. 
THE WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL {Loxia leucop- 
tera), which is easily distinguished by the two white 
bands crossing its blackish wings, is, like the Common 
Crossbill, an inhabitant of the northern parts of both 
hemispheres, but does not appear to be abundant any- 
where. It has occasionally been killed in England. 
The whole length of this bird is about six inches. 
THE RARA {Phytotoma Para), a native of Chili, is 
another of the large-billed Finehes, but differs from all 
the preceding species in having the margins of the 
upper mandible finely toothed. It is a rather large 
species in this family, being about the size of a quail ; 
its plumage is dingy-gra}' on the back, and lighter gray 
on the lower surface. Its cry is rough, and resembles 
the name Para given to it by the inhabitants of Chili. 
The food of this species consists of plants, and it has 
the “ bad habit,” as Molina calls it, of cutting these off 
close to the earth before eating them, so that, as it 
frequently cuts down far more than it requires for 
its consumption, it is regarded as an enemy by the 
peasants, whose fields it invades. This habit is alluded 
to in its scientific name, which signifies lilont-cutter. 
Two other species are known, both inhabitants of 
South America. 
THE SCARLET TANAGER {Pyravga rubra).— Lha 
Tanagers form a very numerous group of the great 
family of the Finches, considerably more than two 
hundred species of them being already described. They 
are all inhabitants of the warmer parts of America, 
where many of them are amongst the most brilliant 
ornaments of the forests. They are distinguished from 
the other Finches by the presence of a notch or undu- 
lation on each side of the upper mandible near the tip, 
on which account several authors have placed them 
amongst the Dentirostral birds in the vicinity of the 
Ampelidae and Orioles ; but their true affinities seem to 
be with the Grosbeaks, to whicli we shall next have 
to allude. 
