CARRION-CROW. 539 
CORVUS CORONE. 
CARRION-CROW. 
(Pxiate 16.) 
Corvus cornix, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 12 (1760). 
Corvus corone, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 155 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Temminck, Gould, Bonaparte, Schlegel, Degland, Gerbe, Dresser, &e. 
Corvus orientalis, Zversm. Add. Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 7 (1841). 
Corvus pseudocorone, Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B, p. 410 (1874). 
The Carrion-Crow closely resembles the Raven in its appearance and 
habits. In spite of the incessant persecution to which it is subjected by 
game-preservers and farmers, it is still a fairly common bird in the wooded 
districts and on the rocky coasts of England, the Channel Islands, and 
South Scotland; but in Central and Northern Scotland it certainly is less 
common and more local in its distribution. Gray, however, states that 
throughout the mainland of the latter country the Carrion-Crow is generally 
distributed. In the Hebrides and Western Islands it is rare; whilst to 
the Orkneys and Shetlands it is usually only known as an accidental 
strageler after severe gales. In these localities its place appears to be 
taken by the Hooded Crow. Dixon, however, in spring met with the 
bird in some of the wildest parts of the Cullin Hills inSkye. He also saw 
it at Portree, Dunvegan, and Talliska in that island ; but in all districts it 
was rare. In Ireland the Carrion-Crow is much rarer than in England, 
and is partially replaced by the Hooded Crow, which is commonly distri- 
buted. - It was known by Thompson to occur in the north, east, and west 
of the island; but in the south it certainly becomes rare, and the parti- 
culars of its distribution are meagre. 
The geographical distribution of this species is most remarkable. The 
Carrion-Crow is, strange to say, an Hast-Siberian bird. Its home is in the 
vast forest lying between the great river Yenesay and the Pacific, a district 
perhaps twice the size of Europe. Northwards the colony extends in 
summer almost to the limit of forest-growth, and southwards to the con- 
fines of the desert of Mongolia, the Corea, and Japan. Here, unharmed 
by man or beast, they appear to have multiplied to such an extent that 
emigration became necessary. West of the Yenesay the country was held 
by an equally powerful colony of Hooded Crows ; and in China, India, and 
the Malay archipelago a large-billed ally stopped the way. They seem to 
have followed the mountain-ranges of Southern Siberia into Turkestan, 
and, crossing the Caspian, to have forced a passage through the colony of 
Hooded Crows, by way of the Caucasus, the northern shores of the Black 
