300 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



extent, but typically the wing beats arc regular and uninterrupted. It 

 does not soar like the raven. 



Though breeding in isolated pairs and usually reckoned a solitary 

 species, the hooded crow may be seen in parties outside the breeding 

 season and even at times in flocks, while it shares with many other 

 Corvidae the habit of occupying communal roosts, more fully referred 

 to under "Winter," which may attain large dimensions where the species 

 is numerous. Even in the more solitary Corvidae distinct social tenden- 

 cies are observable, and assemblies of crows are sometimes clearly some- 

 thing more than merely fortuitous gatherings for feeding purposes. 

 In the case of the carrion crow gatherings have been observed in which 

 in addition to chasing or hopping among the branches of trees there are 

 pursuits and maneuverings on the ground, sometimes with a distinct 

 formality about them. Such behavior does not seem to have been ex- 

 pressly recorded in the case of the hooded crow, but in view of what has 

 already been said as to the identity of the habits and behavior of the 

 two species in other respects it can hardly be doubted that the same sort 

 of thing occurs. It is difficult to assign any function to these gather- 

 ings beyond the quite general one of affording some outlet to the social 

 urge that seems to be common in varying degrees to practically all 

 corvine birds. 



For the rest the general habits and behavior of this species are 

 evidently closely similar to those of the American crow. Like that 

 species, it is a wary, cunning, and intelligent bird. 



Field marks. — The gray body contrasting with the black head, wings, 

 and tail at once separates the hooded crow from the carrion and Amer- 

 ican crows. 



Enemies. — Man is the chief enemy of the hooded crow, and it has 

 been mentioned that it is very unpopular with gamekeepers, shepherds, 

 and poultry farmers. It seems to be little interfered with by birds of 

 prey, though no doubt the more powerful species like the peregrine will 

 take one occasionally, and the golden eagle has also been recorded as 

 doing so. Cram (1927) records the following nematodes parasitic in 

 Corvus comix: Porrocaecum semiteres, Acuaria anthuris, A. cordata, A. 

 depressa, Tetrameres unispina, and Physaloptera malleus. A list of 

 ectoparasites and endoparasites recorded from the species is given by 

 Niethammer (1937). 



Fall and -winter. — It has been mentioned above that outside the 

 breeding season hooded crows may be seen in parties and flocks as well 

 as in pairs or singly, and where the species is plentiful it gathers at 

 night in large communal roosts. The writer knows of no record of such 

 gigantic roosts as have been described in the case of the American crow, 



