A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman.

  • George Montagu
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    65/440 page 37
    actions of a Parrot, climbing up the wires of a cage by the claws and beak. Mr. Pennant mentions a variety he received out of Shropshire, superior in size, vith the bill remarkably thick and short, and more incurvated than in the common kind; the ends more blunt. [Colonel Montagu does not give any instance of the Crossbill’s breeding in Britain; but since his account was written, the nests, eggs and young of the Crossbill have been found on several occasions ; at Bo3'nton, near Bur- lington, in Yorkshire, in 1829; at Epping, in Essex, by Mr. Doubleday; at Cirences- ter, in 1839, by Mr. Brown; in the Holt Eorest, in Hampshire, by Mr. Long, in the same year; and in pine woods on the banks of the Findhorn, by Mr. Hancock, in 1850 : aU these instances are noticed in Hewitson’s ‘ Oology.’ In the ‘ Zoologist ’ for 1843, at page 189, occurs the following note, from the pen of Mr. J. Lewcock, a birdstuffer atFarnham:—“Four or five j-ears ago the Scotch firs in the Holt Forest were cut out to allow more room for the growth of young oaks; when the trees were thrown, four nests of the Cross- bill were found in their topmost forks; the nests and eggs had much the appear- ance of those of the Greenfinch. Since the fii’s were cut down I am not aware that a single Crossbill has been seen in the Fo- rest.” And again, in the volume for 1849, at page 2526, is a paper by Mr. J. Duff, affording conclusive evidence of the Cross- bill breeding in the county of Dui-ham.] [Crossbill, American Whitewinged.—Loxia leucoptera, Yarrell, ii. 33. “ Young birds have the beak of dark horn-colour; towards the point the upper mandible is so com- pressed that the edges are ahnost united; the lower mandible rather lighter in co- lour ; the feathers at the base of the beak, near the nostrils, greyish white; irides dark brown; head, neck, and back dull greenish grey, mottled with a darker tint, which pervades the centre of each feather; the rump tinged with greenish yellow; the under surface of the body jis of a lighter grey, longitudinally streaked with dusky brown ; the shoulders mottled with two shades of dull greyish brown; both sets of wing-coverts dull black, with white tips, forming two conspicuous bars across the wings ; all the quill-feathers nearly black; the primaiies and secondaries with very narrow lighter-coloui’ed edges; the tertials edged and tipped with wliite; the tail forked, the feathers dull black, with very narrow light-coloured edges; under 'tail-coverts in the centre almost black, with greyish white sides and ends; legs and toes brownish black; the claws shining black. 'Phe male in the plumage of his second year has the head, neck, part of the back, rump, and under surface of the body, crimson-red; the base of each fea- ther dai’k grey; the quill and tail-feathers dai’ker than in the younger bird, almost uniform black; both sets of wing-coverts tipped with white; the tertials also being tipped -with white; a dark mottled band passes across the back. A male, older than the preceding btid, had passed appa- rently from the crimson state to orange- yellow on the head, the upper part of the back, and under surface of the body ; the rump lemon-yellow; wings and tail-fea- thers as in the crimson-coloured male. The female is at first lilce the young bird, but afterwards loses the striated appear- ance on the under surface of the body, and attains a lemon-yellow colour on the rump, and over a portion of the breast. The whole length of the adult bird is five inches and three-quarters; from the carpal joint to the end of the wing, three inches and a half; the first three primaiies very nearly of,equal length, and the longest in the ving ; the foiu'th feather shorter than the third, but much longer than the fifth. The hind claw stout, and longer than the hind toe.” — Yarrell, ii. p. 37. The two species of Wliitewinged Crossbill were first sepai’ated as British in the ‘ Zoolo- gist’ for 1848, at p. 2300, up to which time one species only was known to have occiu'red in this country: it is not very certain to which species the following re- cords may with certainty be applied. In the ‘Zoologist’ for 1843, at p. 142, Mr. Rodd records the occurrence of a White- winged Crossbill at Lariggan, near Pen- zance : at p. 221 of the same volume Mr. Jerdon mentions the occurrence of a spe- cimen near Jedburgh, in Febi’uary, 1841. In the volume for 1845, at p. 1190, Mr. E. B. Fitton records that he picked up a specimen, apparently just washed on shore, on the 17th of February of that year: duiing the following year, 1846, there are no less than three similar re- cords— the first at p. 1247, at Mickleover, near Derby, on the 21st of November, by Mr. R. J. IBell ; the second at p. 1498, from the pen of Mr. C. B. Hunter, states that foiu' or five of these birds were seen and one procured on the 10th of May, at Thetford, in Norfolk; and the third, at p. 1551, states, on the authority of Mr. James Cooper, that several specimens were killed near Walton House, some ten miles east of Cai'lisle. In the volume for 1847 Mr. James B. Hodgkinson states that nine specimens were killed that yeai’ near Brampton, in Cumberland. In the volume for 1849, at p. 2419, Dr. Breo mentions that a specimen of Loxia bifasciata was shot out of a Jlock feeding ou lu*-cones at
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3