cesses, to each of which is attached a slender muscle (figs.
6, 7, b) extending backwards to the glottis, and these muscles
by their contraction extend and raise the scoop-like tip.
Beneath the articulation of this appendage is another small
muscle (fig. 7, c) attached to its distal portion at one
extremity and at the other to the hyoid. This by its antagonism
to the former muscles (b) bends the extremity downwards
and backwards, so that while the points of the bill
press the scales from the cone, the tongue exserted by its
own genio-hyoid muscle directs the scoop under the seed,
which being thereby dislodged is conveyed to the mouth.
PASSEKES. miNQlLLIDM.
L oxia p it y o p s it t a c u s , Bechstein/'
THE PARROT-CROSSBILL.
Loxia pityopsittacus.
The first notice of this bird’s appearance in Britain is
that of Pennant who, in 1766, after remarking (Br. Zool.
p. 106) on the “ two varieties ” of Crossbill, of which
Edwards had accurately figured “ the lesser kind” that he
had seen frequently, while the other was very rare, says g g
“ We received a male and female out of Shropshire, which
were superior in size to the former, the bill remarkably thick
and short, more encurvated than that of the common kind,
and the ends more blunt.” This larger Crossbill, at first
considered only a variety of the common bird, has for many
years received specific recognition from the most approved
authors and. its claim thereto need not be discussed here.
Since the time of Pennant, many examples of the Parrot-
* Loxia pytiopsittacus (by mistake) Beckstein, Orn. Tasckenb. 1. p. 106 (1802).