food on the seeds of conifers, the movements of Crossbills are irregular beyond those of most birds, and they would seem to rove in any direction and at any season in quest of their staple sustenance. But the pips of apples are also a favourite dainty, and it stands recorded by the old chronicler Matthew Paris (Hist. Angl MS. fol. 252), that in 1251 the orchards of England were ravaged by birds, " pomorum grana, & non aliud de eisdem pomis comedentes," which, from his description, " Habebant autem partes rostri cancellatas, per quas poma quasi forcipi vel cultello dividebant," could be none other but Crossbills. Notice of a like visitation in 1593 was published by Wats (Vit. 2 0/ar. &c., 1640, p. 262), but of late it has become evident that not a year passes without Crossbills being observed in some part or other of England, while in certain localities in Scotland they seem to breed annually. The nest is rather rudely constructed, and the eggs, generally four in number, resemble those of the Greenfinch, but are larger in size. This species ranges throughout the con tinent of Europe,[1] and occurs in the islands of the Mediter ranean and in the fir-woods of the Atlas. In Asia it would seem to extend to Kamtschatka and Japan, keeping mainly
to the forest-tracts.Three other forms of the genus also inhabit the Old World two of them so closely resembling the common bird that their specific validity has been often questioned. The first of these, of large stature, the Parrot-Crossbill (L. pityopsittacus), comes occasionally to Great Britain, presumably from Scandinavia, where it is known to breed. The second (L. himalayana), which is a good deal smaller, is only known from the Himalaya Mountains. The third, the Two-barred Crossbill (L. tcenioptera), is very distinct, and its proper home seems to be the most northern forests of the Kussian empire, but it has occasionally occurred in Western Europe and even in England.
The New World has two birds of the genus. The first (L. americana), representing our common species, but with a smaller bill, and the males easily recognizable by their more scarlet plumage, ranges from the northern limit of coniferous trees to the highlands of Mexico, or even further. The other (L. leucoptera} is the equivalent of the Two- barred Crossbill, but smaller. It has twice occurred in England.
(a. n.)
CROTCH, William (1775-1847), doctor of music, was born at Norwich, on 5th July 1775. W T hen only three years and a half old, he was able to play tunes with their basses on the organ with great correctness. Dr Charles Burney, the English historian of music, gave an interesting account of the infant Crotch in the Philosophical Transac tions of the Royal Society (vol. Ix. pt. i. for 1779). Crotch also exhibited in his childhood a talent for drawing, which he afterwards cultivated so far as to become a very respectable amateur painter of landscapes. At the early age of twenty-two he was appointed professor of music in the university of Oxford, and there in 1799 he took his degree of doctor in that art. In 1800 and the four following years he read lectures on music at Oxford. Next he was appointed lecturer on music to the Royal Institution, and subsequently, in 1822, principal of the London Royal Academy of Music. His last years were passed at Taunton in the house of his son, the Rev. W. R. Crotch, where lie died suddenly on the 29th December 1847. He published a number of vocal and instrumental compositions, of which the best is his oratorio of Palestine. In 1831 appeared an 8vo volume containing the substance of his lectures on music, delivered at Oxford and in London. Previously, he had published three Volumes of Specimens of Various Styles of Music, referred to in his lectures. Among his didactic works is Elements of Musical Composition and Thorough- Bass ( London, 1812). He arranged for the pianoforte a number of Handel s oratorios and operas, besides (symphonies and quartetts of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. The great expectations excited by his infant precocity were not fulfilled ; for he manifested no extraordinary genius for musical composition. But he was a hard student and a sound musician, and justly holds a high place among English cultivators of his art.
CROTON OIL (Crotonis Oleum) is prepared from tbo seeds of Croton Tiglium, a euphorbiaccous tree indigenous to the Malabar coast and Tavoy, and grown in many parts of the East Indies. The tree is from 15 to 20 feet in height, and has few and spreading branches; alternate, oval-oblong leaves, acuminate at the point, and covered v* hen young with stellate hairs, and email, downy, greenish- yellow, monoecious flowers. The male blossoms have five petals and fifteen stamens ; the females are apetalous, but bear three bifid styles. The fruit or capsule is obtusely three-cornered, and
city of Magna Grrecia, at the mouth of the small river ^Esarus, in the country of the Bruttii, on the western shore of the Ionian Sea. It was founded in the year 710 B.C. by a colony of Achaeans under the command of Myscellus, in accordance with a decree of the oracle at Delphi. The first well-established fact in its history is its friendship with Sybaris ; and till the arrival of Pythagoras the two cities continued advancing in material prosperity and cultivating the arts of war and peace with much success.
The Crotoniats regarded Hercules as their tutelary divinity,
- ↑ Dr Malmgren found a small flock on Bear Island (lat. 74/ K.), but to this barren spot they must have been driven by stress of weather.
