ii6 CROW 



known to breed. The second, L. himalayana, whicli is a good deal 

 smaller, is only known from the Himalaya Mountains. The third, 

 the Two-barred Crossbill, L. tsenioptera, is very distinct, and its 

 proper home seems to be the most northern forests of the Russian 

 empire, but it has occasionally occurred in Western Eiurope and 

 even in England. 



The New World has two birds of the genus. The first, L. 

 americana, representing our common species, but with a smaller bill, 

 and the males easily recognizable by their more scarlet plumage, 

 ranges from the northern limit of coniferous trees to the highlands 

 of Mexico, or even further. The other, L. leucoptera, is the 

 equivalent of the Two -barred Crossbill, but smaller. It has 

 occurred in England at least thrice. 



CROW (Holland. Kraai, Germ. Krahe, Fr. Corbeau, Lat. Corvus), 

 a name most commonly applied in Britain to the bird properly 

 called a Rook, Corvus frugilegus, but perhaps originally peculiar to 

 its congener, nowadays usually distinguished as the Black or 

 Carrion-Crow, C. cmvne. By ornithologists it is also used in a far 

 M-ider sense, as under the title Crows, or Cwvidse, is included a A^ast 

 number of birds from almost all parts of the world, and this family 

 is probably the most highly developed of the whole Class Aves. 

 Leaving out of account the best known of these, as the Chough, 

 Daw, Jay, Nutcracker, Pie, Raven, and Rook, it will be enough 

 to consider here the species of the Family to which the appellation 

 is strictly applicable, for of the limits and subdivisions of this 

 Family it is at present desirable to speak with gi-eat caution, if not 

 doubt. All authorities admit that it is very extensive, and is capable 

 of being parted into several groups, but scarcely any two agree on 

 either head. Especially must reserve be exercised as regards the 

 group Streperinx, or Piping Crows, belonging to the Australian 

 Region, and referred by some writers to the Shrikes, Laniidse : 

 since it is highly probable that Parker's suggestion (Trans. Zool. Soc. 

 ix. p. 327) as to the recognition of these " Austro-Coraces" as a 

 distinct Family ^vill prove to be correct. On the other hand, it 

 seems hardly possible to admit, as some have done, that the Jays 

 require raising to that rank or even to separate them as a subfamily 

 from the Pies, Pica and its neighboui-s, which lead almost insensibly 

 to the typical Crows, Corvinx. Dismissing then these subjects, we 

 may turn to what may be literally considered Crows, and attention 

 must be mainly directed to the Black or Carrion-Crow, Corvvs 

 corone, and the Grey, Hooded, or Royston Crow, C. comix. Both 

 these inhabit Europe, but their range and the time of their appearance 

 are very different. AVithout going into minute details, it will 

 suffice to say that the former is, spealdng generally, a summer- 

 visitant to the south-western part of this quarter of the globe, and 



