L O X 
four convents, a royal fait-work, and a copper-forge; the 
environs produce abundance of fruit, legumes, faffron, 
and olives. In i486, it was taken from the Moors. It 
is twenty-feven miles weft of Grenada, and fixteen fouth- 
fouth-eaft of Cordova. Lat. 37. 18.N. Ion. 4. 18. W. 
LOX'A, or Lo'ja, a town of South America, the ca¬ 
pital of a jurifdidiion of the fame name, in the province 
of Quito, founded, in the year 1546, by Alonfo de Mer- 
cadillo. Befides two churches, Loja has feveral convents, 
a nunnery, a college of Jefuits, and an hofpital. In its 
diitridt are fourteen villages; and within the territory of 
its jurifdidtion is produced the famous fpecilic for inter¬ 
mitting fevers, well known by the name of Cafcarilla de' 
Loja, or Quinquina. See Cinchona. The jnrifdidtion 
of Loja derives alfo great advantage from breeding the 
Cochineal ; which fee. The inhabitants of Loja, known 
over the whole province by the name ot Lojanos, do not 
exceed 10,000 fouls ; though formerly, when the city was 
in its greateft prosperity, they were much more numerous. 
In this jurisdiction fuch vail droves of horned cat¬ 
tle and mules are bred, that it fupplies the others of this 
province, and that of Piura in Valles. The carpets alfo 
manufactured here are of fuch remarkable finenefs, that 
they find a ready lale wherever they are fent. The corre- 
gidor of Loja is governor of Yaguarfongo, and principal 
alcalde of the mines of Zaruma ; but the poll of governor 
of Yaguarfongo is at prelent a mere title without any ju- 
rifdiftion ; part of the villages which formed it being loll 
by the revolt of the Indians, and the others added to the 
government of Jaen ; fo that the corregidor of Loja en¬ 
joys only thofe honours intended to preferve the remem¬ 
brance of that government. The town of Zaruma, in the 
jurifdiition of which are mines of gold, has prefented the 
corregidor of Loja with the title of its alcalde major. It 
was one of the firlt towns founded in this province, and 
at the fame time one of the moft opulent; but it is at pre- 
fent in a mean condition, owing chiefly to the decay of 
its mines, on which account molt of the Spanifh families 
have retired, fome to Cuenga, and others to Loja ; fo that 
at prelent its inhabitants are laid not to exceed 6000. 
The declenfion of thefe mines, which is owing to the ne¬ 
gligence of thofe that are concerned in working them, 
more than to a fcarcity of the metal, has been difadvan- 
ta^eous to the whole department of Loja ; and confe- 
quently diminiftied the number of its inhabitants. Lat. 
4. S. Ion. 79. 14. W. 
LOX'A, a town of Sweden* in the province of Savolax : 
jo8 miles north of Nyflot. 
LOX'A, a rock near the north coaft of the ifland of 
Cuba. Lat. 23. 13. N. Ion. 83. 57. W. 
LOXAN', a town of China, of the third rank, in the 
province of Ho-nan: thirty miles welt-north-weft of 
Kou-ang. 
LOX'BEER, a parifh in the hundred of Tiverton, De- 
•?o.n ; four miles north-weft of Tiverton. 
LOX'FORD, a village in Eflex, near Barking. 
LOX HORN, a village near Barnltaple, Devon. 
LOX'I A, /. [from Ao|os, Gr. oblique, on account of the 
crofting of the bill.] The Crossbill, Grosbeak, Bull- 
iiNCH^ &c. a genus of birds of the order pafferes. Ge¬ 
neric charadters—Bill Itrong, thick, convex, rounded at 
the bafe ; the lower mandible bent in at the edge ; noltrils 
final), and round at the bale of the bill ; tongue truncate. 
In the Loxia, Emberiza, and Fringilla, genera, both man¬ 
dibles are moveable, by which means they are able to Ihell 
and break in pieces the feeds they feed upon. 
j, Loxia curviroltra, the common crofsbill. Specific 
character, mandibles eroding each other; body varying 
in colour; wings and forked tail brown. This is the 
molt remarkable bird of the whole genus. Both mandi¬ 
bles are hooked, and tamed different ways, fo that they 
do not meet in a point. The bill, however, is not uni¬ 
formly in the fame direction; in fome individuals the un¬ 
der mandible is twilled to the light, in others to the left, 
fide; a circumftance that has been noticed, to prove that 
LOX 715 
the variation in the bill is rather owing to certain ufes to 
which it is applied by the bird than to any fixed appoint¬ 
ment in nature. This fpecies is found fometimes in Bri¬ 
tain, though it is not by any means a contlant vifitor in 
thefe_ Blands. In 1756 and 1757, great numbers were 
feen in the neighbourhood of London. It inhabits more 
generally the northern countries of Europe, efpecially 
fome parts of Germany, Swifferland, Ruflia, Sweden, &c. 
where it is permanent the whole year. Birds of this fpe¬ 
cies migrate, from unknown caufes, intoother countries, 
not regularly, but in the courfe of feveral years. They 
inhabit the pine-forefts, and feed upon the cones ; for the 
fealing of which their bills are admirably formed. This 
bird is obferved to hold the cone in one claw, like the par¬ 
rot; and to have all the actions of that bird, when kept 
in a cage. It is fa id' to make its neft in the very highelt 
parts of the fir-trees, faftening it to the branch with the 
refinous matter which exudes from the trees. Mr. La¬ 
tham fays, “ I have never heard of its breeding in Eng¬ 
land, but know-one inltance of its being (hot at large in 
the middle of Cummer.' I have been told that they have 
done great damage in orchards, by tearing tt)e apples to 
pieces for the fake of the feeds, the only part they delight 
in. Many are taken with a bird-call and bird-lime, and 
others by a horfe-hair noofe fixed to a long fifliing-rod ; 
for fo intent are they on picking out the feeds of the cone, 
that they will fuffer themfelves to be taken by the noofe 
being put over the head.” This fpecies is reprefented on 
the annexed Plate, at fig. 1. 
There are two varieties : the one reddifii, head fcarlet; 
the other larger, bill thicker and (horter. The male is 
red, varied with brown and green, a,nd-is faid to change 
its colours thrice a-year ; the female is olive-green, mixed 
with brown. Bud the crofsbill is one of thofe birds whofe 
colours are the molt fubjedt to vary ; among a great num¬ 
ber we can fcarcely find two individuals that are exactly 
fimilar; not only are the (hades of the plumage different, 
but the pofition of the colours change with the fealon and 
the age. Edwards, who examined many of them, and 
fought to mark the limits of variation, paints the male 
with a rofe-colonr, and the female with a yellowiih green; 
but in both, the bill, the eyes, the thighs, and the legs, 
are nearly the lame in regard to (hape and colours. Ge(- 
ner tells us that he kept one of thefe birds, which was 
blackifii in September, and affumed a red colour in Oc¬ 
tober. He adds, that the parts where the red began to 
appear, were the under-fide of the neck, the brealt, and 
the belly ; that this red afterwards became yellow, and 
that winter efpecially is the feafon when thefe changes 
take place; and that, at different times, it is faid they re¬ 
ceive a red,'yellow, green, and cinereous, caft. The crofs¬ 
bill is quite placid in captivity, and lives long in a cage. 
In Cummer, its fiefii is faid to be good eating. Thefe birds 
delight only in the dark forefts of pines and firs, and feem 
to dread the effulgence of day. Nor do they yield to the 
genial Influence of the feafons 5 it is not in fpring, but 
in the depth of winter, that their loves commence. They 
build as early as January, and their young are grown be¬ 
fore the other birds begin to lay. They lay four or five 
eggs, and hatch only once a-year. 
2. Loxia leucoptera, the white-winged crofsbill. This 
is a fmali fpecies, about the (ize of a goldfinch, and mea- 
fures only five inches and three quarters in length. The 
bill is crofted like the preceding, and of a dulky horn- 
colour ; noltrils covered with refledted bridles, of a pale 
buff-colour ; at the bafe of the bill, from eye to eye, goes 
a ftreak of brown ; the feathers on the head, neck, back, 
and under parts, are whitifli, deeply margined with crim- 
fon ; and, as fome part of the white appears not fully co¬ 
vered with the crimfon, it gives the bird a mottled ap¬ 
pearance ; the rump is pale crimfon ; the vent dirty white; 
the wing is black, marked with a bar of white from the 
(houlder, paffmg obliquely backwards, and a fecond bar, 
or rather (pot, of the fame below that, but only in the 
inner half 5 the fecond quills are each of them tipped with 
whits 3 
