between Takoo and Peking, North China. 337 



Lama temples north of Peking. In the morning they might be 

 seen strutting about the parade-ground and the neighbouring 

 fields searching for food ; in the afternoon they would collect in 

 large numbers, and toy and cuflF one another among the lofty 

 branches, cawing vociferously. They soon learnt a natural dread 

 of the fowling-piece. 



These birds are not uncommon near Shanghai, whence 

 Mr. Gould probably obtained his specimens. 



72. Black Crow. Corvus japonicus, Schlegel. 



In close communion with the former I often saw these birds, 

 but they were always distinguishable by their larger size and 

 peculiar cry of " caw-caw ah-ah." They associated in flocks, 

 though never of any great extent. 



73. ^Vhite-rixged Crow^. Corvus pectoralis, Gould. 



I occasionally saw this species, but it was by no means so 

 common as the last. 



74. Pied Jackdaw. Corvus [Monedula) daiiricus, Pallas. 

 Large flocks of these birds were to be found all day long in the 



fine trees above mentioned, clustering close together on the 

 boughs, and having quiet talks among themselves. As the sun 

 began to set, one would see flocks of thousands coming to Peking 

 from the direction of the hills on the west. Their flight was 

 always high, and their cries incessant. I should say some twenty 

 or thirty of these immense flocks, sometimes mingled with rooks, 

 but more often with individuals of the following species, would 

 pass over of an evening; the majority settling for the night 

 among the woods in the Imperial grounds inside the city, or in 

 he trees of the temples of Heaven and Earth. The rooks would 

 generally leave them and drop into the lama-trees, where they 

 usually roosted. In the morning at day-dawn one would hear 

 their cries again, even before discerning them in the hazy sky, 

 though their flight was then usually much lower. 



75. Black Jackdaw. Corvus (Monedula) neglectus, Schlegel. 

 This species was also very numerous, though not so numerous 



as the last, with which it often associated. Indeed, I seldom 

 saw a flock of either without a few of the cognate species among 

 their number. In habits the two are remarkably similar, as well 



