Gould observed 'The rich colouring and foreign appearance which distinguish the Crossbill...have occasioned its being noticed from the earliest periods; for long before the times of Ray and Linnaeus, records of its appearance in large flocks have been made...It is quite evident...that the Crossbill has at various times been very plentiful in England; and that it still pays irregular visits to...our counties is known to all ornithologists; we have also many proofs that it breeds here.'

The illustration shows a male (above) with a female feeding her young.

DISTRIBUTION: Holarctic breeding distribution through Eurasia to southern Indo-China and north Philippines, also north and middle America from Alaska to Newfoundland and south to New Mexico, northern California and northern Nicaragua. Wanders widely in winter south to Near East, central Russia, central China and southeast United States