The IIoi.^DED Crow 177 



important ; as showing how little the agency of man can affect the extinction of 

 species, so far as it is directed merely against birds, their nests and eggs : — 

 "Finally, I would add one further remark, as regards the position of these Crows 

 in the econom_v of nature. Evcr\'where the protection of birds creates the greatest 

 interest, and man is always put in the foreground as the greatest enemy of the 

 feathered creation. Now, altliough the destruction of song-birds and other snuiU 

 species, as it appears to be carried on in Italy, ought to be resisted by all possible 

 means ; nevertheless all that is offered for sale, in the way of eggs and small 

 birds, in Ital}' during one complete migration period, would scarcel}' equal the 

 quantity of eggs and nestlings destroyed b}- the Hooded Crows during one single 

 summer day. 



"It is perhaps true that the number of individuals of Hooded Crows becomes 

 nowhere apparent in such prepondering quantity as in Heligoland, in consequence 

 of which their destructive influence is under-estimated ; but if one had the oppor- 

 tunity of seeing the hosts of them which travel past during two months of 

 autumn, in uninterrupted sequence, and return in the spring, as is the case here, 

 where no tree, wood, or hill, impedes the view ; and if one at the same time 

 remembers that all these fellows, impudent as thej^ are cunning, do nothing else 

 during the long summer da3's, from earl}^ dawn to sunset, but plunder the nests 

 of other birds, from the Lark to the Eagle (Dresser), one would indeed wonder 

 that there are still any birds, other than Hooded Crows, left in the world. By 

 all means let us nurture and protect our little bird-friends in every possible 

 manner, more especially bj^ abstaining from destroying an}- small shrubbery or 

 bush, the sole use of which may, perhaps, be that it affords some small songster 

 a hidden nook for its nest; above everything, however, let us aim at compassing 

 the destruction of Hooded Crows unsparingl}', 3'ear in year out, b}' all the means 

 placed at our command." 



The nidification of this species is similar to that of the Carrion-Crow; in 

 Ireland it commences about the middle of March, but in Scotland later; the nest 

 does not differ from that of C. coroue, and is similarly situated, although it has 

 been found built on the roofs of huts, according to Gray. The eggs are precisel}^ 

 like those of the Carrion-Crow in all their varieties. 



The cries of this species and of C. coronc are indistinguishable, and the food 

 is the same ; but the Hooded Crow is bolder and even more destructive. 



Dixon is the only Ornithologist who seems to have a good word to saj- for 

 this Crow; he says: — "I must confess that, in spite of the dark tales of plunder 

 and his questionable mode of getting a livelihood, the Hooded Crow is a favourite 

 bird of mine, and his habits and regular movements never fail to interest me." 



Vol. J I. Z2 



