556 PASSERIFORMES CHAP. 
are almost omnivorous, Ravens and other strong species even 
attacking weakly ewes or lambs, and preying on small mammals, 
birds, and reptiles; Hooded and Carrion Crows, Rooks, Magpies, 
Jackdaws, and Jays suck eggs; while Rooks, though undoubtedly 
beneficial, also grub up seed-corn and potatoes. An immense 
amount of insect-life is, however, destroyed, and the larger 
forms dispose of carrion; the American Corvus ossifragus and C. 
corone, moreover, Will catch living fish. Magpies and Jays feed 
largely upon the ground, and eat slugs, snails, worms, insects, nuts, 
acorns, grain, seeds of conifers, and other fruits; Nutcrackers devour 
quantities of the last; Corvus tropicus, Macrocorax, and Gymno- 
corax relish fruit. Jays store provisions, and Jackdaws pick 
insects off cattle. The nests of Crows and Nutcrackers are 
bulky structures cf sticks, ined with soft materials; the rough 
domed fabric of the Magpie is neatly lined with roots wpon a 
layer of clay; the shghter nests of Choughs and Jays are inlaid 
with roots and fibres—imore rarely with moss, hair, or wool—and 
every variety 1s found between these limits. The larger species 
build in forks and holes in trees, in crevices of rocks and masonry, 
or rarely in or on the ground; the Chough never chooses trees ; 
Jays nest comparatively low, and often in bushes. Crows’ eggs 
are normally greenish, mottled with darker green, olive, or 
brownish, but Heterocorax capensis has them pinkish with red 
spots, while other Crows, Ravens, and Dendrocitta sometimes shew 
a similar tint. Jackdaws’ eggs are bluish-green or white, with 
dark olive or black markings interspersed with grey; those of 
Magpies and Nutcrackers have a like ground-colour with greenish- 
olive and faint brownish spots respectively; those of Jays are 
greenish, or even bluish, with close olive-green frecklings or zones, 
and occasional black scrawls at the larger end; those of Choughs 
are yellowish-white, with light brown and grey markings. The 
number laid varies from two or three, to as many as nine in 
Magpies, but is usually four or five. The hens sit rather closely. 
Ravens sometimes will even attack man at the nest. 
Of genera doubtfully included in the Family, Picathartes of 
the Gold Coast is slaty-grey, with brown quills, white under 
parts, and bare yellow head, shewing black behind each eye; it 
builds among rocks near forest-streams, and feeds upon reptiles and 
molluscs. The egg is whitish, clouded and dotted with brown. 
Callaeas (Glaucopis) cinerea, Which is blue-grey, with black on the 
