INSESSORES.
CONIROSTMES.
FRINGILLID&.
T H E COMMON CROSSBILL.
Common Crossbill, P enn. Brit. Zool.'^oL i. p. 425.
The _ ,, Mont. Ornith. Dick/1;
» - » Bewick, Brit. Birds, vo'li i. p.'I57
>> „ Flem. Brit. An. p. 76.
Loxia curvirostra,
Lonsiit, wrvivdstra^*<C^ rjtQn, Crowbill, S elby, (Brjt.-.;Omith. vol. i. p. 329.
' iVr h „ Jenyns, Brit. Vert, p.141.
vV,Y’"V'+ ^'^OStrip, Birds of‘Europe, pt; xv.
„ „ - B,ec-crtoise commun,\ Temm, Man. d’Ornith* vol. i. p. 328. 1
r.yEfgJA. Characters,—Beak rather long, tbicl; at the base, much
^impressed,,, sWong^^^p^convex, theYmandibles crossing' each other at the
poiSts-'f^ostrils ®d^44<basal, lateral, ^efep.d'ed- by incumbent setaceous fea*
thprs. > t-hengd!..qui.lJ-Peajther the|loh,ge^ Tarsus very short;
ioe> amrclan^ ^tion1 ; hindc'i toC'lonaei.lhdn the tarsus;^claws curved and
snapp? Taid^hWtfj.'fSrke'd. " J
T h e hisiaiite&fif 4he Common Crossbilly,, in this country* at
Ieasjt,^%j^ll i^Ajoly^l.^^somefeobscu-rity; and though 'they
•were m o^^^|>u||4antv,heBe{ d|j||ng the ^.greater’part of 1886,
ta'nfch»^8. than h ^ b e e n knoym for«keme>years: before^ I
am not awa^e7 that-any instance^curred in whichfhe.eggs oi
-ncst-limas. •were taken. ThesJ;| birds are most frequently seen
in |S o ^ lf ||w j|m : the Hatter part qf the yn®n-th of Junp and
beginning.nf^fibvuaTy1:- but Mr. Hoy has watered them
>-Pd satisfied: him self-that the same birds
remained. till M ay ; and Mr. Jo^ejSh Cfarke ©ILSaffron Walden,,
who->hasf al|pf^paid. great, attention to this species,- has
.^ecer^ed ,his, having*« fgn-,them> during, e^efy successive month
of onp e ntire -year m“ the plant^tiois/about Saflron Walden,
ygt he could never learn that they then made any attempt to
b,reed. . Mr: Bullock long ago suspected that the Crossbill
bred in thi^gotuntry,?. having received yojung birds from the
vicinity <||| Bath early in July. Large flocks were observed:
in thi|v^ u |itry in ^ S ^ l. Mr. §e\by in the month of June; of
that year obtained many, the ’ females of which showed plainly,
r-from the denuded state of their breasts,, that they had
lately been engaged in incubation^: White of Selborne obtained
Crossbills there in summer, and found that the. females
wererin the same, state as to plumage as those examined by
Mr-rSelby. Mr. Knapp has observed the Same appearance
ilit females killed early,in August. Small flocks, including