INSESSORES. 97 



to swallow the contents. This manoeuvre I have 

 several tunes witnessed. 



Hooded, or Grey Crow, Corvus comix. An 

 occasional winter visitant from the north, appearing 

 about the end of October, and leaving in April. 

 The Hooded Crows, " on their arrival in this countr}^ 

 frequent marshes near the sea, and the banks and 

 shores of tidal rivers, inhabiting both sides of the 

 Thames as high up as within a few miles of London." 

 Thej^ are exceedingly wary birds, and when inland 

 keep to the open country, so that it is a difficult 

 matter to get within shot of them. When driving 

 or riding, however, I have sometimes been per- 

 mitted to approach within forty yards of a Grey 

 Crow before it took flight. 



Like the Carrion Crow, this bird is omnivorous, 

 and nothing seems to come amiss to it. Its fa- 

 vourite habitat is the sea-shore, where it preys on 

 small crabs, limpets, and mussels, and now and then 

 a disabled sandpiper, or a stranded carcase. 



When inland, its food consists of earth-worms, 

 grubs, and large beetles, with (not unfrequentl}^, I 

 suspect) game eggs and young birds. It is very 

 partial, also, to freshwater mussels, and, like the 

 Carrion Crow, visits the river banks at low water to 

 pick up those which are then exposed. 



The foregoing remarks, it should be observed, 

 have not been made from a study of the Grey Crow 



K 



