So ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



In Northumberland, I am glad to say, this fine bird still maintains 

 a footing, and nests in two or three localities, amongst the Cheviot 

 Hills. The eggs are usually laid in March. 



CARRION CROW, Con'its corone, Linnaeus.-- Rather plentiful 

 about Berwick, several pairs breeding regularly on the trees about 

 New Water Haugh, and at Castle Hills, and also upon the cliffs 

 along the coast. It is also numerous in the surrounding districts, 

 especially on the south side, the absence of the gamekeeper favour- 

 ing its existence in many places. 



The eggs are laid towards the middle of April, and, even in 

 wooded localities, the nest is sometimes built in a high hedge. 



HOODED CROW, Corvns comix, Linnaeus. Common during the 

 winter months, arriving in October, the yth of that month being the 

 average date on which they have been first noticed here, during the 

 last nineteen years. The 2yth September 1879 is the earliest 

 record during that period, when about a dozen birds were seen 

 flying together over Berwick, from the direction of the sea, no doubt 

 just arriving. 



In the spring, they are late in returning to their summer quarters, 

 and have frequently been noticed here, on migration, in April, up to 

 the 2oth, and even later. Between four and five o'clock, on the 

 morning of gth April 1895, a number passed over my head at 

 Newton-by-the-Sea, flying due north, and at a height of about a 

 hundred yards. Nineteen were counted together in one party, and 

 several pairs and single birds. One pair descended to a field close 

 by, and remained there half an hour, after which they were noticed 

 to mount in the air again and resume their journey. In the autumn 

 mornings, I have frequently observed the arrival of parties of forty 

 or fifty together ; they usually come in from the sea, at a goodish 

 height, in loose straggling order, like Rooks, and hold straight on 

 inland, without attempting to stop here. 



I have already recorded ("Hist. Berw. Nat. Club," vol. x. 

 p. 391, etc.) the interbreeding of the "Hoodie" with the Carrion 

 Crow, upon the cliffs near Berwick, and need only say here that this 

 has been observed to take place in 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, iSSi, 

 1882, and 1886. 



In 1892 a pair, of which one was black and the other a hoodie, 

 frequented the cliffs, a little to the north of Burnmouth, and no 

 doubt bred there; and during the summer of 1895, a pair nested 

 near the same place, of which one appeared to be black, while the 

 other was intermediate, in coloration, between the two forms. It is 

 curious to note, that the above is almost the only instance in which 

 I have noticed one of these " half-castes " to be breeding here, in 

 nearly every other case the parent birds having belonged to one or 

 other of the orthodox forms. 



