THE PARROT CROSSBILL. 
643 
artistically constructed edifice: it is placed under cover 
of an overhanging branch, which shelters it from 
the winter’s snow; the foundation is made of moss- 
covered fir-twigs, while the lining is composed of a fine 
web of still smaller twigs mixed with moss and soft 
feathers; the walls of the nest vary in thickness accord¬ 
ing to the time of year. The eggs are three or four in 
number, and comparatively small; they are bluish or 
greenish white in colour, speckled and streaked or veined 
with pale red, red-brown and blackish brown spots and 
lines. The female only engages in the work of incubation, 
while the male feeds and tends her with the greatest 
assiduity. The former remains in the nest from the day 
the first egg is laid, so as to preserve the germ of her 
future family from the inclemency of the season, though 
she only commences to sit in earnest after the full com¬ 
plement of eggs has been deposited: the young are 
hatched out in from fifteen to sixteen days, and are 
brooded by the mother for several days after. Both 
parents feed their offspring until their beaks are fully 
developed, hardened, and crossed, or, in other words, 
until they can feed themselves. The down of the young 
bird is thick and of a blackish gray; their first plumage 
is blackish gray above, with light edges to the feathers; 
underneath it is whitish gray, with dark longitudinal 
streaks. The adult dress is only assumed after the 
second moult. 
Crossbills may be easily captured by covering the top 
of a fir tree with lime-twigs, or, if one has a call-bird, by 
fastening the twigs to a tall pole or stake, and suspending 
the decoy from the same. Confinement does not distress 
these harmless creatures, as they soon become accustomed 
to it, and clamber about the cage; they are always in 
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