crow. 285 



each pair of birds takes up a particular beat. This fact has 

 led many English observers to think that the Black form — 

 being as before remarked chiefly a summer-visitant to these 

 islands, and consequently most usually seen in pairs or, 

 after the young are flown, in small family-parties — was less 

 sociable in its habits than the Grey, which being better 

 known in this kingdom as a winter-guest, appears of course 

 at that season most often in bands.* The comparative 

 scarcity too of the Black form has encouraged this belief, 

 for from its continued destruction by shepherds and game- 

 keepers throughout most parts of England, it is almost 

 impossible for a sufficient number to be nowadays bred in 

 this country to admit of the collection of any considerable 

 flocks. f In the wilder and less frequented districts of Scotland 

 and Ireland, the Grey Crow enjoys greater immunity, though 

 there are in each wide tracts of country where it has been 

 almost entirely extirpated, chiefly by the use of poison ; but 

 by far the larger portion of the birds of this form which are 

 seen with us in winter are unquestionably of foreign origin, j 

 reaching this country about October. 



Crows are not very early breeders, and it is generally the 

 end of April or the beginning of May before the nest is 

 prepared. This, as has been already said, is variously 

 placed in trees, rocks, or on the ground, but one that has 

 been used before is very commonly refurnished, and a 

 favourite site is often tenanted for a long series of seasons, 



* The precise range of the Grey Crow in England has yet to be determined 

 and well deserves attention. Mr. Knox says that though it is numerous in 

 winter to the eastward of Shoreham, he never detected it on the Sussex coast to 

 the west of Bognor. The Editor can state that it does not visit a district 

 within sight, and not twenty miles to the westward, of the Royston Downs, 

 whence it takes one of its commonest names. 



f Yet in the strictly-preserved county of Norfolk, Mr. Norgate informs the 

 Editor that he has known more than a dozen Crows' nests, the sites of which 

 were visible from one single spot. It is, however, almost useless to remark that 

 nearly all of them would be also known to the neighbouring gamekeepers, and 

 that no increase of the species, but the contrary, would be the result. 



$ So well is this known along the eastern coast of England, where the birds 

 may be seen arriving from over sea in autumn, that they are called Danish 

 Crows. At the same season Black Crows, but in far smaller numbers, also 

 appear on the coast and some of them seem to winter with us. 



