appeared in the county Armagh in 1813 and 1814, and again
they visited Ireland in 1821, when so many overran Great
Britain. Further particulars of other occurrences are given
by him in detail, and especially note-worthy are those, with
regard to the presumed breeding of the species in 1838 and
1839 in the counties Wicklow, Meath and Tipperary—the
latter supplied by Mr. R. Davis, who received a young bird
shot, in the act of taking food from an old male, at Balli-
brado near Cahir. No nest however was found, and it
remained for Mr. Blake Knox to establish beyond doubt
the fact of its breeding in Ireland. This he did in 1868
(Zool. s.s. p. 1133) having been furnished by Mr. Roussel of
Kilkea, county Kildare, with particulars of five or six pairs
which had nests at that place in the spring of 1867.
It may be reasonably supposed that the great flocks which
shew themselves from time to time in our islands have
crossed the sea from the continent, but that the small parties
which are more frequently though very intermittently
observed are natives of Britain. The pleasure enjoyed by
the true naturalist in meeting for the first time with a company
of Crossbills has been related in his usual happy way by
Mr. Knox*, but the pleasure hardly loses by repetition, for
no one can watch the manners of these birds without being
thereby greatly entertained. The easy skill with which they
snap off a cone and grasp it, if it be of moderate size, in one
foot, while with the other they secure their perch, and then,
holding the cone firmly against the bough on which they sit,
tear it to pieces and pick out the seeds it contains, must
be seen to be appreciated. The larger cones are said to
be rifled as they hang (though on this point there is some
doubt),f or cut in two before they are dealt with, and at times
a cone may be held in a convenient position by the foretoes
of both feet, the hind toes only clasping the perch.
In the execution of these feats the birds display astonishing
bodily strength and put themselves rapidly into almost
* Autumns on the Spey, pp. 33-35.
f Lord Tweeddale, in a note to the Editor, states that the bird can carry
about in its bill without difficulty the large heavy cone of a spruce-fir.
every conceivable attitude — hanging back downwards, or
extending themselves in any direction that may be necessary
to attain their object. When they, as they sometimes
do, feed on the buds of trees their movements are much
slower and quieter, resembling those of Bullfinches while
similarly engaged. The attention of a passenger is mostly ’
drawn to the presence of a flock of Crossbills in one or
other of two ways. He may notice the ground strewn with
the fragments of enucleated cones, or—and this possibly
the more often—he may hear a strange call-note, which has
been syllabled jip, jip, jip, frequently repeated, and on looking
up will find that it proceeds from birds that are ever and
anon flying out from the branches of a tree, generally a
conifer, and resettling upon it. Then he can stop to watch
their actions carefully, for these birds are almost invariably
tame and admit of a very close approach—so much so,
indeed, that instances are not uncommon in which they
have been ensnared by a running noose affixed to the end
of a long pole or fishing-rod and passed over their head,
or, touched with a limed twig, adroitly applied by the same
means, fall helpless victims to the ground. The firing of a
gun, though it may deal death to some of their numbers
seldom has any other effect than momentarily to alarm the
survivors, who after a short flight will return to the very trees
on which they were before engaged, or at least to others close
by. In one of these ways almost the whole flock may be procured
if such be the desire of the captor. Unsuspicious as they
commonly are, in fine warm weather they become more difficult
to take, for then the whole flock will at times suddenly
take wing and, after flying round for a minute or more uttering
their loud call-notes, will alight on some tall tree near by
and there sit, the cocks warbling to one another in an agreeable
tone, while the hens join in the concert with their scarcely less
musical chimes. This description however is that of the
birds’ habits in very early spring and does not apply to
them in their limited family-parties somewhat later in the
season. Then they are far less noisy, and such notes are
only uttered by the leaders of the band as will evoke a reply