CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 2 25 



and having" marked all the places where evidences 

 of building- were taking place, deal with them when 

 eggs were laid and bird sitting. The process would 

 be to flush the female off her nest, shoot her, intro- 

 duce some arsenic into the egfo-s which the male 

 bird cominor aloncr an hour or two afterwards would 

 promptly suck to his own destruction. 



The Hooded Crow does not by any means con- 

 fine himself to such luxurious diet as the eg-ofs of 

 game-birds, or their offspring, for he will tackle any 

 sort of filth washed up by the tide on the sea 

 shores in the way of putrid animals, and fish of 

 all sorts, and indeed, he may often be seen thus 

 foraging for what he can find, for nothing comes 

 amiss. 



I have seen these Crows in Ireland on the sea 

 coast more than anywhere else, and in Lincolnshire 

 you may see scores of them on the salt-marshes and 

 tidal creeks ; it was in Lincolnshire that the speci- 

 mens in the case were obtained under the foUowino- 

 circumstances : — 



I was staying in 1903, at a little inn at a place 

 called Fosdyke, which is situated on a sort of tidal 

 creek that connects Boston with Spalding — my 

 main object being to get some more Ducks for my 

 collection, as I had been told that there was an excel- 

 lent chance for me on the Wash. I trot an introduction 



o 



to a sporting parson, a great authority on Duck 

 shooting, and he very kindly recommended me to 

 the local man of the place, a shrimp fisherman, the 

 possessor of a decent sized fishing smack, and a 



