MALE ADULT k MA1.K IMMATURE
C R O S S B I L L .
LOXIA CURT'TROSTRA.
AUHOUOH this species occasionally makes its nay to the south of England (when I remember several to have
been shot by my father's gamekeeper during the winter! of ISIS and ISIS)), I never met with the Crossbill
except in the pine-woods of the Ilighlands. I observed a few small parties ou two or three occasions in
Perthshire, while in Inverness, Ross-shire, and Sutherland I have had repeated opportunities of studying the
habits of these singular birds. In many parts or Inverness and lloss-shire I have seen the nests during the
last few years, though, according to what I can learn from keepers and foresters in those districts, the birds
have entirely deserted several localities in which they were formerly common during the breeding-season.
In some instances squirrels arc considered responsible for the absence of the birds, these animals being
declared by my informants to have destroyed the eggs. Whether there is any foundation for this charge, I
have had no chance for forming an opinion based on my own observations. If there is any truth in the
reports I heard, Crossbills were some years back most plentiful in certain woods, where now only a wanderimparty
at times makes its appearance. There is no denying the fact that squirrels are at the present date positively
swarming in some of these localities; and it is affirmed that the Crossbills began to fall off in numbers shortly
after the increase of the squirrels. That these quadrupeds are frequently taken in traps when the eggs of small
birds are employed as bait, I have had good evidence. This is a plain statement of the case against the
squirrels; and I leave those who read to form their own judgment.
I t has invariably been in March when I have met with the nests of Ibis species; the young, I remarked,
were generally hatched towards the end of the month or early in April. On March 25, 187S, then: was a
heavy fall of snow over the north of Scotland ; and while passing through a fir-wood near Inverness, 1 noticed
that the snow appeared to be piled to the height of at least four or live inches on the top of some nests 1 had
seen a few days previously. I did not make a close examination, merely turning the glasses to the nests
which were at about the height of twenty-live to thirty feet from the ground. It is a curious fact that in every
instance the birds must have been sitting at the time, as a lew days later I watched them feeding their newly
hatched young at each nest.
The Scotch iir appears to be most commonly selected by this species for breeding-purposes. The nest is,
according to my own experience, placed near the upper portion of the tree. I have noticed them in some cases
as low as fifteen feet; but the most common elevation seems to he about double that height.
The brood, after leaving the nest, keep together with the old birds for some weeks. I have repeatedly
observed small parties during May and June frequenting pine-woods, in which I was aware the young had
been brought out. As summer advances, the birds from adjoining glens draw together and form large
Hocks. As far as I was able to judge, they seldom stray to any great distance from (heir accustomed haunts,
being usually found within a radius of ten or twenty miles. The largest assemblage I over met with was ou
the 7th of -lulv lS(it>. The birds comnosimr this mtberins must have numbered several hundreds. h*ln.