1 92 1,] Birds of Macedonia. 191 



cranium had been broken open and the brain-cavity com- 

 pletely cleared. After this a large hole had been made in 

 the region ol: the clavicles, and finally the Crows had devoted 

 themselves to the large and fleshy pectoral muscles. On 

 7 April I found three pairs breeding at Aracli. One nest 

 had certainly been built in the same spring. The nests were 

 about fourteen feet from the ground, in the forks of slender 

 oak-trees, and two of them were quite accessible to a fairly 

 active man. The new nest, to which I paid particular 

 attention, appeared to be finished by 12 April. During the time 

 that building-operations were taking place, the birds roosted 

 at night in a tall fruit-tree (in full blossom), about two 

 hundred yards away from the nest. On 18 April there was 

 one egg in the nest. Both parents were very demonstrative 

 when I was getting up the tree, flying round and cawing 

 loudl}^ but later they showed great cunning in not loitering 

 in the vicinity of the nest when I was about. The hen bird 

 always slipped away at the first sign of danger. The nest 

 itself was very conspicuous, composed of twigs, and neatly 

 lined with horse-hair and a few feathers. 



Corvus cor one. Car r ion-Crow. 



I found a dead bird in December, but could not be sure of 

 further occurrences. 



Corvus frugilegus. Rook. 



Large flocks about the plain during the winter of 1916-17. 

 Especially numerous in December, 1916. On 19 March, 

 1916, a steady stream of Rooks was seen flying across the 

 plain in a westerly direction at mid-day. Some of them 

 (I am sure very weary birds) stopped for a rest in a clump 

 of trees, and resumed their journey at dusk. The majority 

 of the birds left their winter quarters at the end of February 

 or beginning of March. The general direction of the 

 movement seemed to be towards the N. and N.W., in which 

 case it may be assumed that the flocks seen on 19 March 

 were birds from a region to the S.E. of my area, following 

 a line similar to that taken by the Macedonian Rooks. As 



