•more shy; still they appéared several times each day on their
favourite tree, genei ally at stated pèriods,. early in. the' mom- “
ing, and about four or fiv.e o’clock, in the' afternoon,; whenl
have observed them clinging to a branch and breaking off the
pendent, cones -with- a.loud..snap then flying -with them in
their beak to the upper jfide'of the bough .or other convenient
station, and commence extracting the seeds, -holding-Jhe-. cone
chiefly in-, one clay, by pressure against .-the .braneh; y-yeM it
often happened that the.cone soom ffll from the hird’k grasps as
it frequently did in the'act .ofe.detaehing them from thè tree*
‘I havejxccasionally seen a Crossbill, break a ; code -off
.middle, and.holding the piepe.}in one claw, intbheshanner* of
a' parrot, tear it' in pieces and pick? ou^he^p^ds;*,;' Thishebri-
'tinuéd for’ two or .three weeks, when theiyvigte became- few
and far-betweenji tilh at length the bird^ ^appeared'altogi*
thër^ h®heir?,flighfe was rapid,' making, a ^hriH>^ though hot
unmusical note whilst on the wing, and a kind bh.^ntinuous
chirping, like young birds;- occasion ally .yjlpfcsin the;tkeeffi • - In
a second letter this ^gentleman' further, observed that ^larger
flocks came under has notice.later iit the year, ’pheirfjfoo.d
was gathered front the larch ^hey-*,visited, • theg^cotch. fira$
flitting frombranch; to branch; but not Whilb
with’ some friends ,observing a < considerable ' floek,^iiddéh'lp
as: if warned of our presence by a sentinel, -wo-jcntircl vriest
sight of them, soilcompletely-had- .they*coixeealed 'th^hseksceS
among' the branches..' i On' another? occasion, halving-shot two
fair from the-same-trees, after closely searching .every; Ttreé
and not perceiving the.slightest movements, ónmpf oiir party
climbed up toreach a bird that was. lodged,: when^eightcenj or
twenty simultaneously flew' outTof tEe .same d>rees,ru tiering
their usual shrill cry. Abird-catcher informed mb.-that, he > had
taken alive near oné hundred and fifty during the last:summer
about the plantationsin ■ the vicinity of Bath, and that thesebirds
were'equally numerous seventeen or eighteen years ago
in the same locality.''!??
^Apparently h u t very tew.instances of the nests of these
birds being found in any country are recorded, and even the
time of their * breeding is not stated with much precision ;
iBeehstein, indeed, says that' neither their laying nor their
-mouItingt'rhaS's any fixed season The editor of the last edi-
‘1a@n bfi|Pennahtl#/ British Zdoiogy, says,* I know but one
^Certain in s t a n t of the1 CrOssMi breeding in England, and
rthat :on a^pinesItreeiMtlhi ,twov miles .of Darfford in Kent.
■ The ne^l'ahout^thh^iizerof that of a Blackbird, was made on
the lhMest fork bfrthe tree; compo'sed'of dry twigsiof a loose
^feestuirey however, n of "eggs** were laid; for from the tod great
^wio's% m 1 frequent observers,-' the 'birds hdrsook it.’’ - Mr.
J o s e p h : 'Clarke I of - Saffron IWalden, whose account of these
birds^rhas- beembefoic referredito'^h^^^tiSome eight- or ten
^ye&sKa’go/ early in March, a pair made a nest at the Audley
E nd hvfihfy,' meartHistidwri; in which* ‘the female deposited
jflveife&efSi‘ B Thet'IeSttwas of’?a% lodsh texture,' not unlike that
ioS ih^^ammon < Greenfinch, -though rieftnhar Jo1welL,r or so
icarefully. b u ilt; thl^fe^gddlso were. not ’ unlike those of that
.bird^Ufuf .larger; they, however,- deserted? them without making
auyaattebipt at hneubati6n,‘ although I believe they were
jferfeetly.!- Undisturbed*' About* the same* "ti&e,: a pair also
^Mlti;heir..nestu®iJ’a garden inithisotowm, on an apple tree^
flfo t yere shot before-they had completed it.’! f A more cdir-
•clmsive instan^haS' been briefly, referred to byrM. Ne’cker in
Shis valuable -Memoir 6fM?Me Birds of-Geneva; in which i t ’is
^tatedvthsit a best ’was made in a fir, . 1 the materials 'were gras's,
fmoss, and portions of fir; the.nest-contained three young
*ories-,i cbverdfli,wifb'feathers,’ which Were'?dark- green, with
fbla^kish. lohgiftidinal marks’b 'thfe mandibles not then crossed,
btrf like tbosd of a young Greenfinch ; the parent male, red ;