"It is a long seed pod that grows on evergreens.
In summer it is green and sticky, but by and by it grows dry and brown, and divides into little rows of scales like shingles on a house, and there is a seed hidden under each scale.

Each kind of an evergreen has a different-shaped cone; some are long and smooth like sausages, and some are thick and pointed like a top.

The squirrels often pick the cones off the spruces over at the miller's and shell out the scales, just as you shell corn off the cob, to get the seeds." "Very good, my boy," said the Doctor.

"I see you know something about trees as well as birds.

The Crossbills build in evergreens, and all around their nests hang the cones with spicy seeds stored away under the scales, ready for the birds to eat.