208 Habits of the Carrion Crow. 



where, with his killed prey lying around him, he was put to 

 death the next morning. W. L. 



For notices on the weasel, see Vol. III. p. 234., Vol. IV. 

 p. 337., Vol. V. p. 77. 295. 722., Vol. VI. p. 195, 196. 268. ; 

 on the stoat, Vol. III. p. 145., Vol. IV. p. 146., Vol.V. p. 77. 

 294. 393. 718. ; on the polecat, Vol. IV. p. 10. —J. D. 



Art. IV. The Habits of the Carrion Groin. 

 By Charles Waterton, Esq. 



** Inter aves albas, vetuit consistere corvum." Ovid. Met. 



The crow was order'd not to hold a place 

 'Mid whiter favourites of the feather'd race. 



This warrior bird is always held up to public execration. 

 The very word carrion, attached to his name, carries some- 

 thing disgusting along with it ; and no one ever shows him 

 any kindness. Though he certainly has his vices, still he has 

 his virtues too : and it would be a pity if the general odium 

 in which he is held should be the means, one day or other, 

 of blotting out his name from the page of our British orni- 

 thology. With great propriety he might be styled the lesser 

 raven in our catalogue of native birds ; for, to all appearance, 

 he is a raven ; and I should wish to see his name changed, 

 were I not devoutly attached to the nomenclature established 

 by the wisdom of our ancestors. 



The carrion crow is a very early riser ; and, long before 

 the rook is on the wing, you hear this bird announcing the 

 approach of morn, with his loud hollow croaking, from the 

 oak to which he had resorted the night before. He retires 

 to rest later than the rook : indeed, as far as I have been able 

 to observe his motions, I consider him the first bird on wing 

 in the morning, and the last at night, of all our non-migrating 

 diurnal British birds. 



When the genial voice of spring calls upon him to prepare 

 for the continuation of his species, the carrion crow, which, 

 up to this period, has been wary, shy, and cautious, now, 

 all of a sudden, seems to lose these qualities ; and, regardless 

 of personal danger, sometimes makes his nest within a hun- 

 dred yards of the habitation of man, upon a tree, at once the 

 most conspicuous and exposed. To us, who know so little of 

 the economy of birds, this seems a strange phenomenon ; nor 

 can any penetration of which we may be possessed enable us 

 to comprehend the true meaning of this change from timidity 



