ELO OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
eggs are placed. ‘The nest is generally rather loosely 
put together, and is seldom of any great depth. 
Five or six eggs, generally varying considerably in 
size, are laid, and these, although smaller than those 
of the raven, are otherwise very similar. 
It is a rather curious fact, by the way, that both 
the raven and the crow nest very early in the year, 
~ and are generally sitting before the month of Febru- 
ary is at an end. 
Tur Hooded or Royston Crow is very similar in 
many respects to the preceding species, from which 
it may at once be distinguished by the greyish hue 
of the back and the breast. It is not at all a common 
bird in England, but is more abundant in Ireland, 
Scotland, and the adjacent islands, where it breeds 
freely, and is to be seen at all seasons of the year. 
The services of this bird, unfortunately, are con- 
siderably qualified by the mischief which cannot but 
be attributed to it. Young, weakly lambs, and poultry, 
game-birds and their eggs it destroys in numbers, 
“quartering the ground” in search of the latter, as my 
friend the Rev. M: C. H. Bird tells me, * like a setter.” 
On the other hand, it devours quantities of carrion 
and myriads of insects, so that it is by no means with- 
out its redeeming features. 
While visiting the sea-shore it varies its diet a good 
deal, seeking for marine animals when the tide is 
low, and retiring inland when it rises in search of 
food of a different character. Shell-fish it destroys 
by dropping them from a height, as recorded of the 
