CARRION CROW. 



5 



number, five being an average clutch. They are green 

 of various shades in ground colour, spotted, blotched, 

 freckled, and dashed with olive-brown of different tints. 

 Like those of all the other British species in this family 

 they are subject to much variation in the amount and 

 distribution of the markings, which are of two very 

 distinct characters, viz. dark surface spots and paler and 

 grayer underlying ones. Many eggs exhibit a few small 

 dark brown markings, and occasional varieties occur 

 which are almost spotless. Average measurement, 17 

 inch in length, by \2 inch in breadth. Incubation lasts 

 from eighteen to twenty days, and is performed by both 

 sexes. 



Diagnostic characters : It is impossible to give 

 any reliable character by which the eggs of the Carrion 

 Crow may be distinguished from those of the Hooded 

 Crow or the Rook ; but as a rule they are a trifle larger 

 and rounder than the eggs of those species. 



Family CORVID.-E. Genus CoRVCS. 



HOODED CROW. 



CoRVUS coRNix, Linnmis. 



Single Brooded. Laying season, Ap.dl and May. 



British breeding area : Instances of the Hooded 

 Crow breeding in England and Wales are few and 

 irregular, although the bird is said to nest every year 

 in the Isle of Man. In Ireland and Scotland, however, 

 it is widely distributed, especially in the north and west 

 of the latter country, frequenting not only the mainland 

 but most of the islands, from St. Kilda in the west to 

 the Orkneys and Shctlinds in the north. In some parts 



