302 Retrospective Criticism. 



Mr. Jones's discovery [VII. 514.] of a carrion crow's nest, 

 containing two eggs covered and two uncovered, is important 

 to ornithologists, provided nothing had occurred to interrupt 

 the ordinary process of incubation ; but this gentleman does 

 not tell us that he spent any length of time in paying attention 

 to the nest after his discovery. Had it fortunately engaged 

 his subsequent attention at intervals, we should have known 

 how much of this mystery to have attributed to the crow, and 

 how much to chance. If he had satisfied himself that the 

 crow did actually cover even part of her eggs, then my state- 

 ment, quoted above, would be worth nothing at all. If, on 

 the contrary, he had any suspicion that the two eggs might 

 have been covered by accident, then my statement would still 

 be valid. At the time I made it, I took it for granted that I 

 should be considered by the reader as describing the habits of 

 a bird which had the entire management of its own nest ; and 

 I was very particular as to what I wrote, having a professor 

 for my opponent, who had given us the novel information, 

 that carrion crows cover their eggs on leaving the nest. 



I beg to observe, that the nest which Mr. Jones had found 

 might possibly have had a visiter before his arrival, and that 

 visiter might have disordered the lining. Again, the nest 

 might, perchance, have been deserted by its rightful owner ; 

 and, in this case, the long-eared owl or the windhover hawk 

 might have been in it, to look out for a tenement. Moreover, 

 if the crow had been suddenly surprised by Mr. Jones's un- 

 expected appearance, she might have ruffled the lining with 

 her feet as she left the nest. If none of these things had 

 occurred, and Mr. Jones is quite satisfied that the covering 

 of the two eggs was the voluntary act of the crow herself, 

 then we have the curious fact, that half of the contents of the 

 nest were designedly covered, and half left uncovered ; a fact 

 militating against the universal process of incubation; a fact 

 hitherto unobserved in the annals of ornithology. I am at a 

 loss to comprehend why the crow only covered part of her 

 eggs with the lining of the nest. Her covering two, and her 

 leaving two uncovered, argues a slovenly, and, apparently, an 

 unnecessary act. 



Far be it from me to doubt the veracity of Mr. Jones's 

 discovery ; but I must confess that, though it fails to convince 

 me that I am wrong concerning the carrion crow and her 

 eggs, still it puzzles me confoundedly. Would that Mr. Jones 

 had told us more about it ! His merely telling us that he 

 found the nest and examined its contents, without adding that 

 he watched the nest for two or three successive days, in order 

 to be sure that he had discovered a new and important phe- 



