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them. They were quite black. I have sometimes 

 wondered if they could have been young - rooks ; but 

 what goes against that is that the two old hoodies kept 

 flying about over our heads, discoursing sweet music 

 all the time — so I take it they were young" hoodies. 

 I do not think there has been another hoodie's nest up 

 the College-burn during the last sixteen years, since 

 that one in 1890." 



The interbreeding of two such apparently distinct 

 species as the black carrion-crow [Cowus co rone) and the 

 hooded crow is one of the unsolved problems of ornitho- 

 logy. No similar case occurs in the whole range of 

 European bird-life. The more obvious explanation, 

 that the two are not specifically distinct, but merely 

 northern and southern forms of one species, which 

 interbreed at the point of juncture, appears to be 

 negatived by their respective geographical ranges. 

 For the hooded crow is not an exclusively northern 

 race. True, it breeds abundantly in Norway and Scot- 

 land, avoiding - England altogether, except in winter. 

 But outside our islands, the hooded crow goes a long 

 way south — further than its black congener- — breeding 

 not only in Italy, Sicily, and the Mediterranean islands, 

 but even in Egypt. 



Professor Newton regards the two forms as a 

 ''dimorphism"; but it seems to be a matter of "ear" 

 in stating that in their notes the two are identical. 

 I think one may distinguish the triple croak of a hoodie 

 as he flies to roost in the woods from that of a carrion 

 crow. The hoodies also breed slightly earlier, having 

 eggs (in Scotland) in March ; whereas the corby, in 

 Northumberland, regards April 10th as a more suitable 

 date for laying. 



