The crossbill
The crossbill is a gentle little bird. The feathers of the bird are green, yellow and gray. It lives in pine forests, as it feeds on the seeds of the pine and the fir. The crossbill`s beak is very strong and not like the beak of any other bird. It ends in two sharp points that are crossed over each other. This helps the bird to crack the fir cones and get at the seeds.
The crossbill makes its nest in fir-trees. It likes to climb quickly about the branches and often hangs upside down for some minutes. The crossbill makes its little home well. The walls are about an inch thick. It makes them of pine twigs and then lines the nest with feathers, soft grass and fir-needles.
There it lays three or four small greenish or greyish-white spotted eggs. The crossbill is the only bird that makes its nest in any season. For a long time the young birds need much care and attention from the parents, as their beaks are not strong and they cannot open the cones and get seeds for themselves.
After a while the parents teach them to work. They begin to give them half-opened cones, and soon the young crossbills learn to use their beaks.
