LOMA. CROSS-BILL.
Bill compressed, and the two mandibles so incurvated as to cross one another near the point, sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other.
L. curvirosira, Lin. &c. Curvirostra vulgaris, Steph. Cross bill, Cross-beak, Shell-apple, or Shad-apple. Bill long, slightly curved, five lines broad at the base, of the length of the middle toe, and the crossed point of the lower mandible projecting beyond the upper edge of the bill. Body of a variable red ; quills and tail feathers brown ; tail forked. The red of the male is varied with brown and green, and the female is olive-green, mixed with brown ; but both sexes appear very different at different times of the year, and at different ages. Such, indeed, is their dis position to vary in the colours of their plumage, that, among a great number of individuals, scarcely any two can be found that are perfectly similar. The size of the cross-bill nearly corresponds to that of the lark ; for it measures about six inches and a half, and weighs an ounce and a half.
This species is found in Europe, Asia, and America, affecting cold and mountainous latitudes, and traced as far north .as Greenland. It breeds in Russia, Poland, Swe den, Germany, &c. and among the Alps and Pyrenees, whence it migrates, in vast flocks, into other countries, hut apparently with no systematic regularity ; for it ap pears in great numbers in some years, and scarcely at all in others. In 1791, these birds were seen in almost every part of England and Scotland, and remained till September. In various districts, they are more or less plentiful, in the fir and pine forests, from June to the latter end of the year, feeding on the seed by dexterously divid ing the scales of the cones. They are sometimes met with in orchards in autumn, when they will readily divide an apple to get at the kernels. They have been observed to hold a pine-cone in one claw, like the parrot, and, when kept in a cage, they have all the actions of that bird, climbing, by means of their hooked bill, from the lower to the upper bars; and hence, by some, they have been called the German Parrot. Many of them are taken with
bird-calls and limed twigs, and others by a horse-hair noose, fixed to a long fishing-rod ; for so intent are they on picking out the seeds of the cone, that they will suffer themselves to be taken by the noose being put over their head. They breed even in the northern countries so early as the month of January, on the tops of the pine trees, making their hemispherical nest of twigs, and of the Sphagnum arboreum, two inches and a half thick, and lin ing it with the Lichen jioridus. It is fixed to the bare branch by the resinous matter that exudes from the tree, and it is besmeared on the outside with the same substance, so as to be impermeable to the melted snow and the rain. In this warm and secure retreat the female deposits four or five greenish-grey eggs, spotted and streaked with red brown, especially towards the thicker end. The cross-bills are of placid dispositions, and not intractable in confine ment. Dr. Townson, when at G tingen, kept several of them; which, in consequence of gentle treatment, soon be came so tame, that he suffered them to be loose in his study, and to exhibit their proceedings without constraint, so that they would often come to his table, when he was writing, and carry off his pencils, little chip boxes, in which he occasionally kept insects, and others small articles, and would tear them to pieces almost instantly. When he gave them almonds in their shells, they quickly got at the kernels. Notwithstanding the apparent awk wardness of the bill, therefore, it is admirably adapted to to their mode of feeding; and, as they can bring the man dibles point to point, they can at any time pick up and eat the smallest seeds.