which they manage, with their singularly formed beak, to cut
down to and extract with ease; and hence one of the old
names by which this bird was known, that of Shell Apple,
may have a double reference. They are very frequently
brought alive to the London market, and many are purchased
by individuals to watch their habits in confinement and the
changes which take' place in their plumage. They feed
readily on hempseed, and busy themselves with extracting
the seeds from fir cones, occasionally climbing in all directions
over the wires of their cage, holding on by their hooked
beaks, as well as their claws, like a Parrot. Mr. Gould says
he saw in the bird-market of Vienna multitudes of Crossbills
exposed for sale, with Swallows, Martins, and many others of
the smaller birds, for the purposes of the table: of these* the
Crossbill appeared to be especially in request, and this is in
accordance with the reports of those who have eaten them in
this country and pronounced them to be. excellent food.
From the various accounts of this species to be found in
the different works devoted to Natural History, it appears to
have been seen and obtained in almost every county in Bsg*
land. In Ireland Mr. Thompson says* it is an occasional
winter visitant, occurring more frequently in'the North than
in the South. In Scotland it has been killed in various
localities, and Mr. Macgillivray gives the following interesting
account from his own observation: — “ In the autumn of
1821, when walking from Aberdeen to Elgin, b y the way of
Glenlivat and along the Spey, I had the pleasure of observing,
near the influx of a tributary of that fiver, a floek of
several hundreds of Crossbills busily engaged in shelling the
seeds of the berries which hung in clusters on a clump of
rowan-trees.* So intent were they on -satisfying their
hunger, that they seemed not to take the least heed of me.;
and as I had not a gun, I was content with gazing on them,
* The mountain ash—Pyrus aucnyaria; \
without offering them any molestation. They clung to the
twigs in all sortsnf positions, and went through the operation
of feeding in a quiet and business-like manner, each attending
to his own affairs without interfering with his neighbours.
I t was indeed a pleasant sight to see how the little creatures
flattered among the twigs, all in continued action, like so
many bees oh > a cluster of flowers in sunshine after rain.
Their brilliant colours, so much more gaudy than those of our
"common birds, seemed to convert the rude scenery around
into that ofr some far-distant land, where the Redbird sports
among the flowers of the magnolia. In that year, flocks of
these birds wore observed m various parts of Scotland.”
The visits^ of Crossbills to fir-trees, and their mode of feed*
ing on the seeds lodged -between the scales and the.body of
the cone,- are thus^ described by R. F . Wright, Esq. of
Hinton Blewlt, Old Down, Somersetshire, who very kindly
sent me the following communication iglwgj
: “ Having for some time remarked the cqnes,v;under a large
fir-tree in the garden, lying in cbasideraMe numbers, and
mostly peckedf&T Gould not,account for the circumstance^,
until, passing near the tree one afternoon in the beginning of
August 1888, my attention was attracted by a shrill chirping,
which I -Soon * discovered r proceeded £ from a small flock of
birds, aboufcj six in number, who were disporting on the
higher branches of the tree. I span succeededin: having three
of them killed; and they proved tó ‘h i th f Loxia curtirastroc
in ; fine plumage. They were extremely tame, and seemed
unconscious of harm ; for when the first' was killed, the rest
only flew into the thicker parts of the tree, and it was not
until two others were shot, that the remainder took their departure,
and I saw no more of them for some days: however,
in a short time, three returned, and I did not suffer them to
be ihoksted in any way, intending to .observe their motions;
but after the recent attack upon them, they were evidently
•c 2