36 CROW. 
the Raven, the Kite, the Buzzard, and even the Peregrine; 
but the last-named frequently makes them pay their life as 
the forfeit of their temerity: they roost in trees and on rocks. 
Mr. Weir, in a communication to Mr. Macgillivray, relates 
that having shot a male at the nest, the female soon found 
a new partner, ‘some disconsolate widower, or disappointed 
bachelor;? and when she was likewise shot, the step-father 
continued single-handed to feed his adopted young. 
The Rev. W. Waldo Cooper has known a new partner ac- 
quired thrice in one winter by the survivor; I was going to 
say of the original pair, but this would be almost as difficult 
to decide as the case of the new-handled, and then new-bladed 
knife. Mr. Weir also found that a pair of old birds either 
did not discover, or did not heed the substitution of some 
young Rooks for their young, but continued to feed their 
supposititious children as they had done their own. The 
Crow is easily tamed, and exhibits precisely the same roguish 
propensities that the Raven does, and like him may be taught 
to imitate the human voice and a variety of sounds. 
‘The Carrion Crow,’ says Mr. Weir, in a communication to 
Mr. Macgillivray, ‘is very easily tamed, and is strongly attached 
to the person who brings him up. I kept one for two years 
and a half. It flew round about the neighbourhood, and 
roosted every night on the trees of my shrubbery. At what- 
ever distance he was, as soon as he heard my voice, he 
immediately came to me. He was very fond of being caressed, 
but should any one, except myself, stroke him on the head 
or back, he was sure to make the blood spring from their 
fingers. He seemed to take a very great delight in pecking 
the heels of bare-footed youths. The more terrified they were, 
the more did his joy seem to increase. Kven the heels of 
my pointers, when he was in his merry mood, did not escape 
his art of ingeniously tormenting. His memory was_aston- 
ishing. One Monday morning, after being satiated with food, 
he picked up a mole, which was lying in the orchard, and 
hopped with it into the garden. I kept out of his sight, as 
he seldom concealed anything when he thought you observed 
him. He covered it so nicely with earth, that upon the most 
diligent search I could not discover where he had put it. 
As his wings had been cut to prevent him from flying over 
the wall into the garden, he made many a fruitless attempt 
during the week to get in at the door. On Saturday evening, 
however, it having been left open, I saw him hop to the very 
