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opinion, that in his neighbourhood the chough was much oftener 
seen some years ago than it is now; indeed, he believes that at 
present there are only one or two pairs. The Rev. Thomas B. 
Bell of Leswalt, Wigtownshire, in a communication made some 
years ago to the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, says that 
the chough “annoys the farmers by digging up the sprouting 
wheat and tearing off the roofs of their stacks.” 
THE RAVEN (Corvus coraz). 
Now greatly thinned, being greatly and justly disliked by the 
sheep farmer, on whose lands it commits its worst depredations. 
Notwithstanding the rigorous persecution to which it is subjected, 
the raven seems even yet less likely to be totally extirpated than 
many other birds whose lives are in constant danger. The best 
time to shoot the vagabond is at dusk, when he and his mate are 
returning from a day’s foray to their favourite roosting place. The 
following lines are taken from an address to the bird, probably 
written by some half-poetical and watchful keeper, in the prospect 
of a revengeful shot :— 
“ Say, weary bird, whose level flight, 
Thus, at the dusky hour of night, 
Wends through the midway air— 
Why yet beyond the verge of day 
Is lengthened out thy dark delay, 
Adding another to the hours of care ?” 
THE CARRION Crow (Corvus corone). 
Not common, but seen occasionally in autumn frequenting the 
sea-shore, sometimes in company with the Hooded Crow. Hoody 
Craw is the name given to this bird in most parts of Scotland. 
THE HoopeD Crow (Corvus corniz). 
About equal in numbers with the preceding bird, but both are 
well kept down by the game preservers. As the two birds are 
perfectly identical in form, size, habits, and general mode of living, 
and are known to breed freely together in the middle districts of 
Scotland, it is difficult to believe in any specific distinction between 
them. The grey-backed bird is believed by Mr Gray to belong to 
a northern race of the carrion crow, and it has been ascertained 
that the boundary line where the two unite stretches from Argyle- 
shire through Perthshire and Forfarshire. In the Outer Hebrides 
