288 
LOXIA CURVIROSTRA. 
substituting 1 the specific for the generic appellation, I 
have only followed the steps and dictates of that great 
original, whose arrangements ought never to be disre- 
garded by any who would faithfully copy her. 
The crossbills are subject to considerable changes of 
colour ; the young males of the present species being, 
during the first season, oli ve yellow, mixed with ash ; 
then bright greenish yellow intermixed with spots of 
dusky olive, all of which yellow plumage becomes, in the 
second year, of a light red, having the edges of the tail 
inclining to yellow. When confined in a cage, they 
usually lose the red colour at the first moulting, that 
tint changing to a brownish yellow, which remains 
permanent. The same circumstance happens to the 
purple finch and pine grosbeak, both of which, when in 
confinement, exchange their brilliant crimson for a 
motley garb of light brownish yellow; as I have had 
frequent opportunities of observing. 
The male of this species, when in perfect plumage, 
is five inches and three quarters long, and nine inches 
in extent ; the bill is a brown horn colour, sharp, and 
single-edged towards the extremity, where the man- 
dibles cross each other; the general colour of the 
plumage is a red-lead colour, brightest on the rump, 
generally intermixed on the other parts with touches 
of olive ; wings and tail, brown black, the latter forked, 
and edged with yellow; legs and feet, brown; claws* 
large, much curved, and very sharp ; vent, white, 
streaked with dark ash ; base of the bill, covered with 
recumbent dowm, of a pale brown colour ; eye, hazel. 
The female is rather less than the male ; the bill of 
a paler horn colour; rump, tail-coverts, and edges of 
the tail, golden yellow ; wdngs and tail, dull brownish 
black; the rest of the plumage, olive yellow mixed 
with ash ; legs and feet, as in the male. The young 
males, during the first season, as is usual with most 
other birds, very much resemble the female. In moult- 
ing, the males exchange their red for brownish yellow, 
which gradually brightens into red. Hence, at different 
seasons, they differ greatly in colour. 
