104 THE BIRDS OF OXFORDSHIRE. 



the Crow is generally rather a late breeder, and is said to delay 

 nesting until the end of April or the beginning of May ; but 

 here it often goes to nest earlier, and I have found eggs much 

 incubated by the 24th of the former month. 



There can be no doubt as to the destructive habits of this 

 species, and the amount of damage which it does among game 

 and wildfowl during the breeding season is very considerable : 

 at that season the Crow may be seen regularly beating the 

 fields, stream banks, and hedgerows in search of nests, the 

 eggs and young birds being equally acceptable to it. In the 

 summer of 1883, I chanced upon the feeding spot of a pair of 

 Crows which had reared their young at Clattercote Reservoir. 

 Strewn around were the remains of several frogs and toads, 

 together with a fledgling Finch, and a number of broken egg- 

 shells of the Partridge and Wild-duck. In the poultry-yard 

 it is equally destructive, and I have seen a Crow carry off a 

 duckling some tluce weeks old, in spite of the old duck's gallant 

 defence of her yoimg. 



It must be remembered, however, that dm-ing all the rest of 

 the year the staple of the Crowd's food consists of worms, grubs, 

 and insects. Crows are fond of the large fresh-water mussels 

 [AnodoH and Unio), which they find cast up on the meadows 

 after floods, and also search for in the mud at Clattercote 

 when the water is low, reminding one strongly of the habits 

 of their congeners, the Hooded Crows, on the coast. 



I have been somewhat diffuse in describing the habits 

 of this common bird in Oxfordshire, which may be easily 

 observed, simply because in many parts of England, where 

 game preserving is largely carried on, the Crow is really a rare 

 bird, and at some futvire time may be so even in this district. 



Distributed in some numbers all over the county, it is 

 nowhere so plentiful as in the north. About Kingham it is 

 ' hardly common ' (W. W. Fowler, MS.), and it only occurs 

 sparingly in the neighbourhood of Standlake (Warner, MS.). 

 The usual local name is Gor Crow. A pair nest regularly in 



