HOODED CROW. 263 



and join him. This amusement he continued for a con- 

 siderable time, but as none of his kindred seemed to 

 answer his call he at last gave it up, and flew slowly 

 towards the fields, probably with the same philosophic 

 conclusion that led Mahomet to visit the mountain. 

 As the usual time for departure approached their 

 numbers on the beach gradually diminished, but 

 although I watched them very closely, I was not 

 fortunate enough to witness any decided migratory 

 movement,* and from observing them latterly more 

 inland than by the sea, I imagine they may have pro- 

 ceeded in small bodies to some other part of the coast 

 preparatory to leaving. On the Hunstanton beach, I 

 have counted over a score under the sandhills, at one 

 time, towards the end of March. Mr. J. H. Gurney 

 informs me that when residing at Easton, some years 

 back, a few of these crows, with an amount of instinct 

 approaching very nearly to reason, invariably remained 

 until the geese and some other fowls on his fancy water 

 had laid their eggs, unwilling to lose the chance of 

 such a feast, and having once gratified their oological 

 tastes, soon quitted the scene of their pilferings. 

 The following are a few characteristic anecdotes of 

 the carnivorous tastes of this species. Mr. Eobert 

 Birkbeck, in the "Zoologist" (p. 4124) writes, "as 

 a friend of mine was walking on the sands, near 

 Cromer, on the 24th ult. (October), he observed a 

 solitary hooded crow flying over from the sea, evidently 

 fatigued with a long passage. He fired at it, and 

 saw it immediately drop a small bird from its beak, 

 which proved to be a chaffinch, with the skull 



* From Mr. Dowell's MS. notes, amongst other interesting par- 

 ticulars of this species, I find that on the 28th of March, 1848, he 

 " witnessed the return of many of these bii'ds to their breeding 

 places, a long sti-ing of scattered bu'ds flying high, with much 

 noise, towards the N.E., wind blowing from S. and S.S.W." 



