544: BRITISH BIRDS. 
CORVUS CORNIX. 
HOODED CROW. 
(PLate 16.) 
Corvus cornix cinerea, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 19 (1760). 
Corvus cornix, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 156 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Naumann, Gould, Gray, Schlegel, Salvadori, Dresser, &c. 
Corvus cinereus, Briss., Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus, p. 18 (1816), 
Corone cornix (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 99 (1829). 
This handsome and well-known bird can only be regarded as a winter 
visitant to England and Wales, where it is commonest on the eastern coasts, 
only occasionally wandering inland in some localities, but in others appear- — 
ing as aregular migrant. In the Channel Islands it is only known as an 
accidental straggler in autumn and winter. A few pairs, however, have from 
time to time remained and reared their young in various parts of England 
and Wales; otherwise these portions of the British Islands appear to be 
tenanted in the breeding-season exclusively by Carrion-Crows. In Scot- 
land the Hooded Crow is pretty generally distributed throughout the main- 
land and the islands, including the Orkneys, the Shetlands, St. Kilda, and 
the Faroes ; and it is also an occasional visitor to Iceland. In Ireland it 
is equally common and widely distributed throughout the country. 
The Hooded Crow is the western form of the Carrion-Crow. Though 
the area of its distribution is intersected by the narrow belt of Carrion- 
Crows which connects the East-Siberian colony with the Turkestan colony, 
and the latter with the West-European colony, it cannot be said to be dis- 
continuous, unless the colonies in Scotland and Ireland be regarded as 
isolated from the main colony, which extends eastwards from Scandinavia. 
On the continent the Hooded Crow is found throughout Europe east of 
about long. 10°, and in Asia extends north of Turkestan as far as the valley 
of the Yenesay, and south of Turkestan through Asia Minor and Persia into 
Afghanistan, and through Palestine into Egypt. Examples from the 
Persian Gulf have the pale slate-grey replaced by nearly white, and have 
been called C. capelianus ; but Siberian birds are intermediate in colour, 
and the Persian birds can only be looked upon as a local race. In China 
and in South Africa Crows are found in which the black is distributed in 
a somewhat similar manner; but these birds are probably all specifically 
distinct. 
The Hooded Crow is a migratory bird in the northern portion of its 
range. Although it is a permanent resident in Scotland, great numbers of 
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