loxia

loxia (plural loxias)

1. crossbill (finch of genus Loxia)
   • 1794, ed. Alexander Hogg, The New Wonderful Magazine, volume 4, number 47, page 427:

     It produces quantities of gum, which is conſidered by the natives as a peculiarly delicate ſpecies of food, the leaves and lower points of the branches ſeem to conſtitute the principal aliment of the camelopardalis; and from the extent of its boughs, and the ſmoothneſs of the trunk, it affords a ſafe ſhelter to the loxia, a ſpecies of gregarious bird, againſt the tribe of ſerpents and other reptiles, which would otherwiſe deſtroy its eggs.

   • 1821, Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer, volume 3:

     She attempted to enlarge her comprehension, by observing the animal world. A young loxia had fallen dead from its pendent nest; and Immalee, looking into the aperture which that intelligent bird forms at the lower extremity of the nest to secure it from birds of prey, perceived the old ones with fire-flies in their small beaks, their young one lying dead before them. […]
     ‘You also have intellectual beings to converse with instead of the chirpings of loxias, and the chatterings of monkeys.’—‘I have not found the conversation I encounter much more intelligible or significant,’ murmured Isidora, but the stranger did not appear to hear her.

   • 1841, John James Audubon, The Birds of America, volume 2, page 102:

     Huckleberries form a portion of the food of many birds, as well as of various quadrupeds. Of the former, I may mention in particular the Wild Turkey, several species of Grouse, the Wild Pigeon, the Turtle-dove, some Loxias, and several Thrushes.

   • 1852, Mayne Reid, The English Family Robinson: The Desert Home; Or, The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness, page 135:

     There were parrots, and paroquets, and orioles, and blue jays, and beautiful loxias, both of the scarlet and azure-colored species.