Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/515

Rh most vigorous manner the possession of the ripest berries with some smaller species of bird, which latter seemed quite capable and willing to offer battle to its more bulky antagonist. At first it was scarcely light enough to see what the smaller birds were, and the object of the Thrushes seemed to be to drive them from the neighbourhood, as they chased them from one tree to another, and by so doing they flew almost close to the window, when I saw they were Crossbills. I sat and watched them for some time, and eventually both Thrushes and Crossbills got their breakfast. This continued for several mornings, until the trees were stripped of their berries, and as long as the feast lasted both Thrushes and Crossbills were in evidence during the early hours of the day; but a curious fact connected with it is that, although a few Thrushes occasionally made a stealthy visit to the trees during the bright sunshine, I did not see a Crossbill anywhere in the neighbourhood at noontide, except one day when the cat belonging to the house brought in one, an immature bird in the yellow and red plumage; but it had been dead for some time. An elder tree, the fruit of which was also ripening, was a great attraction to a number of Starlings, but the right of appropriation of the berries was often a disputed point between them and the Thrushes. I did not see the Crossbills attempt to touch the berries, but I suppose it was only a natural sequence, as they prefer the seed-like kernels to the pulp, and is said sometimes to be destructive in orchards by splitting open the apples for the sake of the kernels. This, however, I have never been able to verify from personal observation. Referring to the occurrence of Crossbills in the neighbourhood of Ringwood, I may say that I am not prepared to establish the fact of the species nesting, but I can positively assert that the species put in an appearance from various places, and all points of the compass, from January to the present time (Nov. 8th); and now I understand there are numbers of them in the locality; but it must be borne in mind that their much-loved coniferous trees are comparatively common both east and west of the Avon valley. In the early part of the year I saw several, and heard of many others in and about the neighbourhood of the New Forest; I think they often frequent that locality in the winter, but in April they were still to be found there. During March numbers of them were observed at Parley, near Christchurch, and other places at no great distance, and in June one was sent me from Fordingbridge: it was in a pntridputrid [sic] condition, having been picked up; at the same time I heard of others in East Dorset. In connection with the occurrence of the species, I may relate an incident that occurred, I believe, in May or beginning of June, but I foolishly did not note the date. A labouring man asked me if the cock Greenfinch ever had any red about it, as he had seen a hen feeding two or three young ones on the branch of a fir tree not far from his house, and sometimes they were