or autumn of 1826, however, a very considerable number
appealed in central Europe, sometimes in troops of from
twenty to fifty, which" of course attracted some attention,
particularly as has been already said, from Gloger and the
eldest Brehm. Virtually this was the year of its discovery
as an European bird, for the previous observations, in
Sweden, Britain and Switzerland, had been almost entirely
overlooked. How far this particular visitation (the headquarters^
of which seems to have been in Silesia and
Thuringia) extended cannot be said, but there is evidence of
stragglers in the course of that autumn or of the following
winter having reached the neighbourhood of Vienna, Munich,
Nuremberg, Liege, Antwerp and Copenhagen. Possibly
some even remained to breed, or else a second visitation
followed, for m the severe winter of 1829, according to Von
Kettner, it appeared on the mountains of the Murg valley in
Baden. Since this time it has been observed in Hungary
(Isis, 1848, p. 86), several times in Bohemia, and frequently
m Germany, appearing, say Drs. Blasius and Baldamus,
almost yearly in the Harz in company with the common
species, and it is recorded also from Tyrol and the Berga-
masco southward, while westward it has reached the neighbourhood
of Caen in Normandy. It has also more than
once visited Belgium as in September 1842, and November
and December 1845, when flocks appeared. In February
1846 it was seen in Holland near Utrecht. Mr. Gatke
has occasionally obtained it in Heligoland, where it is, however,
very rare. It visited Denmark in October 1845 and
December 1849, and was observed in Norway, in August
1840, October 1852 and in the autumn of 1858—each
time in: the botanic garden at Christiania. In Sweden it
continues to come at uncertain times to Stockholm near
which city, as well as near Gottenburg and in Scania, it was
especially observed in the autumn of 1845, and it has also
occurred at Gefle, but is not yet recorded from any more
northern locality in that or the sister kingdom. In Finland
Magnus von Wright stated in 1849 that it had been of late
years observed near Helsingfors, where the younger Von
Nordmann obtained several examples, and in 1856 Mr.
Dresser got many at Viborg; but, though J. von Wright
procured it the following year at Haminanlaks, it is not
mentioned by Dr. Malmgren as a bird of the Kajana tract.
In Russia it was apparently unknown till 1841, when
Prof. Brandt announced it as of very rare occurrence in that
country. In July 1848,. Prof. Lilljeborg, however, found it
in plenty near Archangel; but the experience of later travellers
seems to shew that even there its appearance is fitful,
and, though in some seasons it is numerous, years may pass
without seeing it. When it does appear it seems to breed,
and its song and beautiful plumage make it eagerly sought
and highly prized as a cage-bird. The larch-forests of Siberia
probably afford it a more certain residence, and in that country
it is especially abundant, reaching to the Arctic Circle on the
Jennesei, and having been met with throughout Manchuria
to the Pacific. It has been also included among the birds
of Japan ; but seemingly on the evidence only of native
drawings.*
As regards habits little difference has been observed
between this and other Crossbills. Its call-notes however
are said to be peculiar. The earlier observers, Brehm and
Gloger, syllabled them by the words krit, tutt, tutt and
gdtt, gdtt or grdtt, grdtt—all to be pronounced as in German.
Baron de Selys, who has so effectually contributed to a better
knowledge of this bird, says (Bull. Acad. Belg. 1846, pt. i.
p. 831) that his attention was first drawn to it by its cry,
which somewhat resembled that of a Bullfinch, and he had
the pleasure of observing a flock for more than a fortnight
on his property at Longchamps-sur-Geer. They preferred
the seeds of the larch to those of other firs. Those that
Prof. Lilljeborg saw near Archangel however haunted a wood
* The skin of a white-winged Crossbill, formerly in the possession of Mr.
Gtonld, purported to come from the Himalayas, and has been figured by Bonaparte
and Prof. Schlegel in their fine ‘ Monographie des Loxiens’ (p. 8, pi. 10) as a
specimen of L. leucoptera, but as stated by the Author in the last Edition of
the present work it belongs to L. bifasciata, and agrees with various examples
taken in this country.