works, it appears to have occurred in almost every English
county. Depending mainly for food on the seeds of conifers
and the pips of apples*, its movements are irregular beyond
those of most birds, and it would seem to rove in almost any
direction and at almost any season in quest of its staple
sustenance. Want of space here forbids any statement of
more than its greater visitations, as these have been set
down. Edwards, writing in 1757, states that great flights
had lately occurred near London. In June and July 1791,
says Montagu, a bird-catcher at Bath took an hundred pairs
of which the greater part were males and generally sold at
five shillings each. In 1806, as appears from Mr. Dillwyn’s
statement, a flock inhabited a clump of firs in a sheltered
Glamorganshire valley. In 1821, as recorded by many authors,
Crossbills were numerous and flocks were seen in various
parts of the country—particularly in the counties of Oxford,
Worcester, Warwick and Northumberland. In 1828 they
appeared in Westmoreland and the following year were
numerous in Yorkshire. In the summer of 1835, according
to Blyth, they were again plentiful, and so they continued
in several districts from that time to 1839—among other
instances flocks having been seen in Dorset in 1836, about
Carlisle, says Heysham, in June 1837, and twenty having
been killed by one person in Hampshire during the first
week of August 1838. Coming to later years, they were
very generally seen throughout the kingdom from 1846 to
1848, in the winter of 1853-54, again in 1855, in 1861, in
1866 and in 1868. But as yet nothing, otherwise than con-
jecturally, has been made out that will correlate their
abundance or scarcity with other natural phenomena. This
must be the work of future naturalists and physicists.
In Scotland, as in England, the Crossbill is said to have
been taken in every county, though not in any of the Outer
* Hence one of the old names for this hird is “ Shell-apple.” Of late it has
not been often observed feeding on apples, very possibly owing to the greatly
increased growth of firs, and especially larches, throughout the country. In the
days of its great depredations in orchards, there could have been few if any
conifers in England. In Germany it does not seem to have been ever generally
known as attacking fruit-trees.
Hebrides. According to Mr. Gray, it “ breeds perhaps more
numerously in the central counties than elsewhere,’’ but he
adds that many nests have been obtained every year near
Dumfries, and that it is found in considerable numbers
during the breeding season in Lanarkshire. Nests have
also been several times known near Girvan, and young
broods observed in Dumbartonshire. But this would seem
to have been the case only of late, for Jardine, writing in
1839, though knowing that the birds remained throughout
the year, states that he had “ hitherto been unable to discover
the nest or any traces of their having built.” In the
northern counties the same may be asserted. St. John said,
in 1849, that the species had of late years become numerous
in the fir-woods of Sutherland, and that it certainly bred
plentifully in that county. In 1850 he, in company with
Mr. Hancock, took, near the Eindhorn, a nest whence the
young (which they saw close by being fed by their parents)
had flown and found at the same time a second nest with
the remains of others. It was not till 1854 that the naturalist
last named obtained the nest and eggs from Ross,
since which time there can be no doubt of the species breeding
regularly in many of the revived highland-forests. In the
northern islands, it is, as might be expected, but an accidental
visitor, though, according to Saxby as regards Shetland, in
increasing frequency and numbers of late in proportion to
the growth of young trees. This observer has some interesting
notes shewing its disposition to adapt itself to such
accommodation as these woodless localities afford, and among
them none is more curious than its often retiring for the
night to the stubbles, though as a rule it roosts in such
trees and bushes as offer themselves.
In Ireland, Thompson remarked that it had long been
known as an occasional visitant, and had bred there of late
years. Many were recorded as seen in the county Down in
1707, and nearly a century later vast flights came over to
the county Cork, and thence spread inwards and northwards
so far as Dublin, making (as of old time in England) great
havoc in the orchards. Another flight is supposed to have