SHRIKES AND DAWS. 10g 
his attention to game and poultry is enough to alarm 
the stoutest-hearted squire or henwife. .... From 
what I have written, the reader may be able to form 
a pretty correct idea of the habits of the carrion 
crow; and he will perceive that, for nearly ten 
months of the year, this bird, far from being con- 
sidered an enemy, ought to be pronounced the friend 
of man.” 
The balance seems certainly in favour of the crow. 
Two months of enmity are more than  counter- 
balanced by ten months of service; and had we no 
worse foes with which to contend than the carrion 
crow, we might deem ourselves fortunate indeed. 
Owing to the great similarity between the two 
birds, the crow is frequently* confounded with the 
rook, from which, however, it may be distinguished 
by the fact that the base of the beak is surrounded 
with feathers, whereas in the latter bird it is encircled, 
after the first few months, by bare, scurfy skin. The 
crow, too, is generally a solitary bird, and is rarely 
seen in company, while the rook, as we all know, is 
eminently a sociable creature, and eats, drinks, and 
sleeps in large companies, oftenjconsisting of many 
hundreds of individuals. This latter rule, however, 
does not always hold good, for the crow is occasion- 
ally to be seen in flocks of fifty or more. 
As regards the nesting arrangements of the crow, 
there is little to chronicle. Like the rook, it builds 
in the topmost branches of some lofty tree, and 
constructs its abode of sticks, roots, grass, and hair, 
the latter material forming the lining upon which the 
