ieillot. French, "Bovreuil
commun."--Miss C.B. Carey, in the 'Zoologist' for 1874, mentions a
Bullfinch having been brought into Couch's shop in November of that
year, and adds--"This bird is much more common in Jersey than it is
here." Miss Carey is certainly right as to its not being common in
Guernsey, as I have never seen the bird on any of my expeditions to that
Island, nor have I seen it in either of the other Islands which come
within my district.

Professor Ansted includes the Bullfinch in his list, but oddly enough
only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark, although Mr. Gallienne,
in his remarks published with the list, says--"The Bullfinch
occasionally breeds in Jersey, but is rarely seen in Guernsey," so far
agreeing with Miss Carey's note in the 'Zoologist,' but he does not add
anything about Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum.

72. COMMON CROSSBILL. _Loxia curvirostra_, Linnaeus. French,
"Bec-croise," "Bec-croise commun."--The Crossbill is an occasional
visitant to all the Islands, and sometimes in considerable numbers, but,
as in England, it is perfectly irregular as to the time of year it
chooses for its visits. Mr. MacCulloch writes me word--"The Crossbill is
most uncertain in its visits. Many years will sometimes pass without a
single one being heard of. When they do come it is generally in large
flocks. I have known them arrive in early autumn, and do great havoc
amongst the apples, which they cut up to get at the pips. Sometimes they
make their appearance in the winter, seemingly driven from the Continent
by the cold."

My first acquaintance with the Crossbill was in Sark on the 25th of
June, 1866, when I saw a very fine red-plumaged bird in a small
fir-plantation in the grounds of the Lord of Sark. It was very tame, and
allowed me to approach it very closely. I did not see any others at that
time amongst the fir-trees, though no doubt a few others were there. On
my return to Guernsey on the following day I was requested by a
bird-catcher to name some birds that were doing considerable damage in
the gardens about the town. Thinking from having seen the one in Sark,
and from his description, that the birds might be Crossbills, I asked
him to get me one or two, which he said he could easily do, as the
people were destroying them on account of the damage they did. In a day
or two he brought me one live and two dead Crossbills, and told me that
as many as forty had been shot in one person