240 JACKDAW. 



France, Spain, Italy, Greece, and some other portions of the 

 Mediterranean basin, including Morocco and Algeria, it is extremely 

 local. After heavy gales from the south-east it has been found in 

 the Canaries. The examples obtained in Eastern Europe, Turkestan, 

 Kashmir, and the valley of the Yenesei in Siberia, have remarkably 

 white and well-defined collars ; but from the Altai Mountains to 

 Eastern Siberia and China, the representative species is C.dauria/s, 

 which has the nape, sides of the neck, lower breast and belly ashy- 

 white. 



For its breeding-place the Jackdaw chooses holes and cavities in 

 rocks, churches and castles — ruined or not, the chimneys of in- 

 habited houses, rabbit-burrows and hollow trees ; while sometimes 

 the nest is among stalks of coarse ivy on cliffs, or in spruce firs, 

 open to the sky. It is usually a substantial, and sometimes a 

 monstrous, pile of sticks, warmly lined with wool, rabbit's-fur and 

 other soft materials. The 4-6 eggs, laid towards the end of April, 

 are of a pale bluish-green, boldly spotted and blotched with black, 

 olive-brown and violet-grey ; sometimes the ground-colour is greyish- 

 white and the markings are very scanty : measurements i "4 by i in. 

 The warm lining is often pulled over the eggs, so as to conceal 

 them ; and the late Mr. C. B. Wharton found a clutch smeared and 

 apparently disguised with a coating of clay, taken from a lump 

 which was in the nest. At Cambridge great inconvenience was 

 formerly caused by the appropriation of the labels from the old 

 Botanic Gardens by the Jackdaws ; no fewer than eighteen dozen 

 being discovered in one chimney. The food consists largely of 

 insects and their larvae, worms, and the parasites found on sheep, 

 upon the backs of which the bird may often be seen perched ; but 

 the Jackdaw is also a terrible egg-stealer. The flight is rapid but 

 wavering, numerous evolutions being performed in the air to the 

 accompaniment of a short clear note, sounding like cae. Although 

 it generally flies in pairs the Jackdaw is at all times more or less 

 gregarious, and especially so in winter. 



The adult male has the lores and crown of the head glossy 

 purplish-black ; ear-coverts, nape and sides of the neck grey, in- 

 clining to white, and producing the effect of a collar ; rest of the 

 upper parts glossy black ; under parts dusky-black ; bill, legs and 

 feet black. Length about 14 in. ; wing 9-3 in. The female is 

 somewhat smaller and the grey collar is less defined. The young 

 are dull black, with very little grey on the head and nape. The iris 

 is white at all ages. 



