LOXIA PITYOPSITTACUS, Bechst.
Parrot Crossbill.
Loxia curvirostra (var. y j major, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 843.
pytiopsittacus, Bechst. Orn. Tasch. Deutsch., vol. iii. p. 106.
Cruciroslra 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 bird, since even the
most careless glance would convince us that it has been designed for some special object connected with
the bird’s economy and mode of life. Had there been no coniferous trees, the form would probably not
haye been in existence, any more than there would have been honey-feeding Parrots had there been no
Eucalypti. So far from an error, a defect of nature, and a useless deformity, as stated by Bufifon, a more
perfect instrument than the bill of this bird for extracting the seeds from between the scales of the fircones
can scarcely be conceived, just as the bill of the Bullfinch is fitted for shelling the embryo flowers
and buds of trees. I might, were it necessary, cite numerous other instances of adaptation to a special
purpose; hut 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 formerly 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 still farther
south, both in the old and new worlds, and, wherever they exist. Crossbills of one or other species are also
found. In countries south of the equatorial line, firs and Loxiine birds form no part of their flora; and
faunte; and neither the one nor the other, if introduced, will, in my opinion, ever thrive there. I could enlarge
upon this subject to any extent, were it not foreign to my present purpose; but I merely record my opinion
that none of these isolated forms will live out of their own country, and that it is futile to attempt to alter
the nature and condition of one or the other.
Crossbills are wandering birds, moving about from one part of the country to another, according to the
season and the abundance of cones hanging on their favourite trees I sometimes they even leave their primeval
forests, and for a short time visit other districts, as will be seen in my account of the Loxia curmrostra.
Mr Wheelwright, who has paid special attention to their habits and economy in the neighbourhood of
Gardsio in Sweden, states that if there be an abundance of fir-cones in autumn, plenty of Crossbdls will be
found breeding there in the following spring—a circumstance which appears to happen about every third or
fourth year; and he has observed that, if large flocks are seen in the autumn, the chances are that there will
be verv little snow during the following winter.
Ornithologists are divided in opinion as to the specific value of the Parrot and Common Crossbills, some
believing that the former is merely a large race of the latter, or rice versa. If this be really true, we may
also unite with them the Crossbills of Japan, North America, Mexico, and the small spec.es found in the
Himalayas; but I do not coincide with this opinion, for the following reasons. When Crossbills are found
in the Swedish forests, they are almost exclusively of the large or the smaller kind, and seldom, i ever, are
they found breeding in company. Farther, if the Himalayan and American birds are one and the same
with our own, and the PityopsiUacus he merely a larger race, why should it not be found in those coumnes
also ? Such, however, is never the ease; and I therefore think that such an opinion must fall to the ground.
To go into the origin of species would be entering the region of specnlation, without obtaining
proofs as to how these somewhat trifling yet constant differences have been brought about; and y
duty in the present work is to deal with things as we find them. I know that Mr. Wheelwright
opinion that the two birds are perfectly distinct. „.rfectlv
Since writing the above, I have read ¿passage on this very subject from the pen of Mr. Blyth, so perfectly
coincident that I could scarcely persuade myself that I had not read it beforehand ; hut I can assure my
readers tlmt both my own and Mr. Blyth’s opinion were formed independently of each other. T e g
“ H W dmibts^the=existence of the Parrot Crossbill as a species. If that bird is to he united to
P u n n n n T. n iftm n s k fa C U S IS tile more 1