. Notes on the birds of Northamptonshire and neighbourhood . ly speak on the authorityof others, and therefore abstain from any detailsexcept to mention that a nest taken in Scotland, andsent to me with four eggs some years ago, is built oftwigs of Scotch fir and lined with coarse grass anda very little wool. The Crossbill is more or lesscommon in suitable localities in all parts of have met wdth it in great abundance in theCanton de Yaud, Switzerland, from November tillApril, but could not succeed in finding a nest. InSpain we met with it in the month of June in the AND NEIGHBOURHOO
. Notes on the birds of Northamptonshire and neighbourhood . ly speak on the authorityof others, and therefore abstain from any detailsexcept to mention that a nest taken in Scotland, andsent to me with four eggs some years ago, is built oftwigs of Scotch fir and lined with coarse grass anda very little wool. The Crossbill is more or lesscommon in suitable localities in all parts of have met wdth it in great abundance in theCanton de Yaud, Switzerland, from November tillApril, but could not succeed in finding a nest. InSpain we met with it in the month of June in the AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 205 pine-forests of the Guadarrama mountains, near Sanlldefonso, and have heard of its occurrence in manyparts of that country. We have generally found theCrossbill very tame and easy of approach, and a flockof these birds busily employed in feeding on theseeds of a snow-laden fir-tree is a beautiful and mostinteresting sight. Their actions in quest of foodvery much resemble those of the smaller Parrots asthey cling to and clamber about the large cones,. Crossbills oii. ITir-tree. from which they extract the seeds with wonderfulrapidity. In confinement we have found this species,though it soon becomes perfectly tame, invariablyvery restless, and constantly climbing over all partsof its cage as if seeking to escape. As above men-tioned, fir-seeds are the natural and favourite food;but these birds will readily feed on hemp-seed andalmost any of our common berries. At pp. 190, 191 206 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE of the fourth edition of Yarrells British Birds willbe found some quaint quotations from two authorsconcerning the visitation of Crossbills to this countryin the years 1251 and 1593, and the damage done bythem in the apple-orchards by boring into the fruitto extract the pips. In connection with this we maystate that although we have found our tame birdsof this species very fond of the pips of apples, w^enever could induce them to extract the said pips fromthe fruit fo
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