86 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



almost every farm-yard has its nest, very large 

 quantities of poultry are kept, and the Magpie is 

 evidently supposed to provide compensation in some 

 way. In Lancashire it is found breeding mostly in 

 the secluded woods at the foot of the fells, and is still 

 fairly common in wooded districts, regularly building its 

 nest, if unmolested, in close proximity to dwellings. In 

 winter, three or four individuals may generally be seen 

 together in the open country, and on the sea-shore, 

 where the land is manured with shell-fish, the flocks 

 often number two or three score. From five to seven 

 eggs are laid late in April or early in May. 



GENUS COEVUS. 



JACKDAW. 



CoRvus MONEDULA, Limiseus. 



Eesident, and distributed in small numbers over the 

 whole of the county. It is reported as increasing in 

 most places, but I do not find this to be the case in my 

 own district of Clitheroe, where its numbers appear to 

 me to remain pretty constant. A few pairs breed in the 

 church steeples of almost every town and village, though 

 in Manchester it has now deserted many of those which 

 formerly it regularly occupied. Holes in trees, chim- 

 neys, and walls of ruins are favourite nesting-places, 

 and its senses are remarkably acute, an approaching 

 footstep being immediately detected, and the nest left, 

 though it be so much as six or seven feet from the outer 

 air and thirty feet from the ground. It affects very 

 much the company of Books, often breeding in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of Eookeries, and a few 



