JCmliuuLHdiickter, dd*M i
X.OXTA P IT T O P S 1 T TÁC1TS» Buchst Waü*r <f Cohn,, Imp.
Parrot Crossbill.
Loxia cumrostra (var. yj major, Grael. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 843:
—pytiopsittacus, Bechst. Orn. Taseh. Deutsch., vol. iiL p. 106.
Crueirostra pinetorum, Meyer, Yög. Liv- und Esthl. p. 71.
•. • ' subpytiopsittacus, Brehm, Handb. der Naturg. Vög. Deutsch, p. 242.
L it t l e philosophy is required to divine the purpose of the curiously formed bill of this b ird ,
• i 11 ’____ __ t.U... I . ... Im iin /la cw p n n .1 To r e o m p fillpi’tjll most careless glance would convince us that m ili'C f i
ihe;'bird’s economy and mode of life. Hat
Ijaw been in existence, any more than the
lEmcalypti. So far from an error, a defi
since even .the
it has been designed for some spec«! object connected with
there been no coniferous trees, the fon» would probably not
e would have5 been honey-feeding Parrots had there been no
f nature, and a useless deformity, as stated by Buffon, 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 bods of trees. I might, were it necessary, cite numerous other instances of adaptation to a special
punióse; hot 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 fonnerly 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 stall further
south, both in tin- old and new worlds, and, wherever they exist. Crossbills of ope or other species are also
In countries sooth of the equatorial line, fire and Loxiine birds form no part of their flora and
- «w the other, if introduced, will, in my opinion, ever thrive there. I could enlarge
were it not foreign to my present purpose; but I merely record my opinion
faunae 5 and neither the
upo
that none of tbcae
the nature '**
Crossbills are wawdcn**«
season and the abundance 0
forests, and for a short t
Mr. Wheelwright, who hai
Gardsjo in Sweden, states
found breeding there in th
fourth year; and he
be very little snow i
forms will live out of their own country, and that it is futile to attempt to alter
Í oner or the other.
. birds, moving about from one part of the country to another, according to the
'i cones hanging on their favourite trees ; sometimes they even leave their primeval
imc visit other districts, as will be seen in my account of the Loxia cumrostra.
> paid special attention to their habits and economy in the neighbourhood of
• there be an abundance of fir-cones in autumn, plenty of Crossbills will be
oHowing spring—a circumstance which appears to happen about every third or
baa observed that, if large flocks are seen in the autumn, the chances are that there will
»ring the following winter.
divided in opinion as to the specific value of the Parrot and Common Crossbills, some
Ornithologists are rxmneu in ujm»»uu «« «.«v ...------- ------------
believing that the former is merely a large race of the latter, or dec err.™. If th.s be really true, we may
also unite with them the Crossbills of Japan, North .America. Mexico, and the small species found m the
filicide with this opinion, for the following reasons. When Crossbills are found
ore almost exclusively of the large or the smaller kind, and seldom, if ever, are
npany. Further, if the Himalayan and American birds are one and the same
opsitloeus be merely a larger race, why should it not be found in those countries
■ver the case; and I therefore think that such an opinion must fall to the ground,
riea would be entering the region of speculation, withont obtaining any satisfactory
in what trifling yet constant differences have been brought about; and my
is to deal with things psrwe find them. I know that Mr. Wheelwright is of
ire perfectly distinct.
Himalayas; but 1 do not <
in the Swedish forests, the
they found breeding in cc
with our own, and the / tt
also ? Such, however, is *
To go into the origin of *p
proofs as to how these si
duty in the present work
opinion that the two bird
Since writing the abov
coincident that I could t
readers that both my own and Mr. Blyth'
is the passage referred to :—
•* Mr. Bree doubts the existence oi t
Lowia curoirostrn, why not also the small
stria passage on this very subject from the pen of Mr. Blyth, so perfectly
1 have
op
that I had not read it beforehand; but I can assure my
nion were formed independently of each other. The following
t Parrot Crossbill as a species. If that bird is to be united to
,0 ,„o species of the Himalayas, L. himahgma, in which case the iliffcr-
enee of size in the two extremes is great indeed ? in America the L. n iew c o rre sp om ls
I— of ^ r o p e th u to u the former