6 CROSSBILL.
t h e breast, dull g r e y tinged with yellow, and is streaked with blackish
grey more or less, shewing a faint brown spot on the centre of each
feather. The wings expand to the width of eleven inches and three
q u a r t e r s , or thereabouts. The quills arc blackish brown; the primar
i e s with a slight edging of yellowish grey. Greater coverts, blackish
b r o w n ; lesser coverts, dusky brown tinged with grey, and slightly
m a r g i n e d with the same. Tail, blackish brown, with a slight edging
of yellowish grey; upper tail coverts, greyish brown; under tail
coverts, dusky, with broad greyish white edges.
The young are at first dark green, with blackish longitudinal
markings, and the bill is not crossed. The young males after the
first moull are variously dull red. yellowish red, greenish yellow,
or dull yellow, shaded with reddish. The back on its lower part
is yellowish: wings, blackish brown; tail, blaekish brown.
Yarrell gives an extended account of the different changes of
plumage in the Crossbill, which I have condensed and arranged as
follows:—
The nestling is dark green with blackish streaks.
I n the next stage, the head, neck, and breast, arc greyish white
streaked with dusky brown, the males being brighter and more dist
i n c t ly marked than the females.
l i v the autumn the males have become more uniform in colour,
t h e stripes more diffused. They moult into red or yellow, or a
m i x t u r e of both, some feathers being of each colour and some orange.
One variety in this stage, a male, bill, dull reddish brown,
darkest towards the tip of the upper mandible; iris, dark brown;
head, breast, and lower parr of the back, dull red, the upper part
cheanut brown; wing coverts and quill feathers, nearly uniform dark
brown; tail, dark brown, short, and slightly forked; under tail
coverts, greyish white; legs, toes, and claws, dark brown. Another
male, head, pale yellow tinged with green; back, on the upper part,
olive brown; lover part of the back and breast, pale yellow tinged
with green; tail, nearly uniform dark brown. Another, also a male,
crown of the head and upper part of the back, a mixture of reddish
brown and dark orange; lower part of the back, reddish orange;
upper tail coverts, bright o r a n g e ; chin, throat, and upper part of the
breast, red; lower part of the breast and sides, red, passing into
orange. Another, the female, on the crown of the head, greenish
yellow; and the breast mixed with greyish brown; back, on the
lower part, and u p p e r tail coverts, light yellow, with a t i n g e of green;
others have been found with dull white tips to the greater and
lesser wing coverts.
CROSSBILL. 7
Sir William J a r d i n e appends the following descriptions of some:—
No. 1, a male, entirely yellowish crimson red, brightest on the head,
breast, and lower part of the b a c k ; lower part of the breast inclining
to yellowish white, a broad stripe of pale umber brown reaching from
the eye; the feathers on the centre of the back darker at the base,
the tips only being crimson, giving a duller appearance to that p a r t;
the wings and tail, very dark umber brown, tinted with crimson on
the scapulars; the quills and secondaries very narrowly edged with
reddish white.
No. 2, also a male, with all the crimson parts tinged with brownish
green, that colour occupying the base of the feathers, the centre of
the back and scapulars appearing nearly entirely of a deep shade
of that colour.
No. 3, a female, had tin1 upper parts, throat and neck, of a greyish
green; the feathers on the head and back dark at the base, and
edged with yellowish green; the breast, greenish yellow, shading
downwards into grey; under tail coverts, greyish black, edged with
pale yellowish grey; wing- and tail, dark greyish umber brown,
t h e feathers edged with greenish yellow.
No. -i, a young bird, with the whole upper parts umber brown,
t h e yellowish green feathers appearing; the throat and sides of the
breast, reddish yellow, shading into yellowish white on the middle
and lower part of the breast, the shaft of each feather marked with
umber brown; the wings and tail edged with pale brownish white.
Another account, t h u s : length, seven inches and a q u a r t e r ; head
on the sides, brownish grey, and on the back, as also the neck on
the back, and the upper and middle part of the back, light yellowish
g r e y , mottled with dusky b r o w n ; the front with a central faint brown
spot on the feathers, the centre of each feather being of the latter
colour; the lower part of the back greyish yellow; breast, dull grey,
tinged with yellow, the feathers on its u p p e r part with a central faint
brown spot. The wings expand to the width of nearly one foot;
primaries, blackish brown, with a slight edging of yellowish grey;
greater wing coverts, blackish brown; lesser wing coverts, dusky
brown, with a tinge of grey, and slightly margined with the latter.
The tail feathers blackish brown, with a slight edging of yellowish
g r e y ; under tail coverts, dusky, with broad edgings of greyish white.