I EtOSSBILl .
t h e beginning of 1822, Crossbills were very numerous in many parts
of the country, especially in Scotland; so they were also in 1828,
1829, 1830, 1833, 1834, 1830, 1837, 1838, 1839, as likewise in 1806,
1791, when hundreds wore taken near Bath, and 1593, of which the
following account is given in an old manuscript, quoted by Mr.
Y a r r e l l : — ' T h a t the yeere 1593 was a greate and exceeding yccre of
a p p l e s ; and there were greate plenty of S t r a n g birds, that shewed
themselves at the time the apples were full rype, who fedde uppon
t h e kcrnells onely of those apples, and havcinge a bill with one beake
w r v t h i n g e over the other, which would presently bore a greate hole
in the apple, and make way to the k c r n e l l s ; they were of the bignessc
of a Bullfinch, the henne right like the henne of the Bullfinch
hi coulour; the cocke a very glorious bird, in a manner al redde or
yellowe on the brcst, hackc, and head. The oldest man living never
h e a r d or rcadc of any such like bird; and the thinge most to bee
noted was, that it seemed they came out of some country not inhabited;
for that they at the first would abide shooting at them, cither with
pellet, bowe or other engine, and not remove till they were stricken
downe; moreover, they would abide the throwcing at them, in so
much as diverse were stricken downc and killed with often throwcing
at them with apples. They came when the apples were rype, and
went away when the apples were cleane fallen. They were very good
meate.'
So also in Ohildrcy's k Britannia Baconica:'—' I n Queen Elizabeth's
time a flock of birds came into Cornwall, about harvest, a little
bigger than a Sparrow, which h a d bils t h w a r t e d crosswise at the end,
a n d -with these they would cut an apple in two at one snap, eating
onely the k e r n e l s ; and they made a great spoil among the apples.*
T h e y had also been noticed so early as the vear 1254.
I n I r e l a n d they have heen often noticed, as at Dublin, "Wexford,
a n d a flock at Annaghmore, near Tullamore, December 9th., 1868.
I n Scotland t h e y were abundant in 1821, and since then have been
r e p e a t e d l y observed: some remain in that part of the island throughout
t h e year. Many breed in S u t h e r l a u d s h i r e ; also in Caithness.
I n Orkney great uumbers of these birds were observed during winter
a lew years ago. They were also very abundant in several of the
islands in 1806 and 1807.
I n Y o r k s h i r e , in the neighbourhood of Doncaster, in the year 1836,
t h e y were very plentiful in the plantations near Sandal, and no doubt
all around. I wrote an account of t h em in the ' Magazine of N a t u r al
History,* volume ix., page 413; also near Knarcsborough in 1846, as
likewise in numbers about the year 1838, as also in 1829. They
CROSS mi,r, 3
have been met with near H e b d e n - B r i d g e , Halifax, Barnsley, Sheffield,
numerously in the winter of 1837, 1838, T h i r s t , York, Killingbeck,
Leeds, Huddersfield, Whitley Hall, "Barnsley, in 1831 and 1834-5;
also at Birdslip, nrar Ripley, a large flock in December, 1866, and
Boynton, near Bridlington, the seat of Sir George Strickland, Bart.,
in 1829, in large numbers; also near Swinhope, in Lincolnshire, the
Rev. R. P. Alington has known them in former years tolerably common,
feeding on the cones of the larch- f i r s . A flock was seen in
Derbyshire in 1836.
In Bramham Park, the seat of George Lane Fox, Esq., several
nests were found in the year 1840, and at Boynton, A r t h u r Strickland,
Esq. found one himself. This was in the summer of 1839; it
contained one egg.
This species also builds in the fir plantations about Doddington,
in Kent, of which fact Mr. Chaffcy of that place is my informant;
and it has also been known to do so near Dartford, in the same
county; so too at Broome, the seat of Sir H. Oxenden, B a r t . ; , a nd
near Saffron Waldon, Essex, in a garden in the town, and in Orwell
Park, near Ipswich, in the vear 1822. Instances of its doing so are
also recorded in the Messieurs Sheppard and Whitear' s ' C a t a l o g u e of
the Norfolk and Suffolk B i r d s ; ' also at Great Barton, near Bury St.
Edmunds, about a dozen, (lie beginning of December, 1868; likewise
in Durham by Mr. Joseph Duff; and in Devonshire a pair built at
Ogwcll House, near Newton, the seat of Thomas William Taylor,
E s q . , in April, 1839, as recorded by W. R. Hall Jordan, Esq., of
Tcignmouth; it is occasionally known down t h e r e ; and another pair
in Holt Forest, Hampshire. In Somersetshire, at Burnham, Christmas,
1868. A flock at Newtown, Montgomeryshire, the beginning of September,
the same year. Others near Aldborough, in Suffolk, I l o d d c s d o n,
H e r t f o r d s h i r e , and on the Cotswolds, in Gloucestershire. In Sussex
t h e y have been procured near East Grinstead, as W i l l i am Yates, Esq.
has informed me.
They have been observed with us in some parts of the kingdom
in every month of the year, but mostly in those of the winter and
spring. They appear in all places to be of a roving wandering disposition,
uncertain in their movements, appearing suddenly here and
t h e r e in large numbers, and as suddenly disappearing again; but
doubtless they are g u i d e d by some instinct, the cause or the object
of which is unknown to us.
These birds are by no means shy, and are very easily tamed: in
one instance, namely, in the aviary of Lord Braybrookc, at Audley
E n d , near Saffron Waldon, Essex, they have been known to build