NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 139 
or five in number. ‘This species feeds on small mammals, young birds, 
eggs, and all sorts of carrion and refuse, and the damage done in game- 
preserves by a single pair of these birds is almost incredible. 
South Wales, May. 
Presented by Lord Kensington. 
No. 6. JACKDAW. (Colceus monedula.) 
A common resident and generally distributed over the British 
Islands. It is equally at home on cliffs, church-towers, ruins, in rabbit- 
warrens, or among the old trees of wooded districts. It builds its 
nest in a recess or fissure of a rock or wall, in a rabbit-burrow, or in a 
hole in a tree, sometimes amassing an immense quantity of sticks to 
raise the nest to within a convenient distance from the entrance. 
Smaller twigs, wool, or other soft materials form the bed for from four 
to six bluish-green eggs, marked with greyish and brownish spots, 
Sussex, May. 
Presented by W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Esq. 
No. 7. HOODED, or GREY CROW. 
(Corvus cornix.) 
The Royston Crow, as this species is also called, visits England and 
Wales from October onwards in large numbers, while in the north and 
west of Scotland and in Ireland it is resident. In its habits, food, 
and mode of nesting it closely resembles the Carrion-Crow, with which 
it not infrequently interbreeds. 
Ross-shire, June. 
Presented by Captain S. G. Reid and W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Esq. 
No. 8. MAGPIE. (Pica pica.) 
A woodland bird, resident and common in the British Islands. In 
many districts it is much persecuted and has been almost exterminated 
on account of the damage it does to the eggs and young of game and 
other birds. The nest, which is generally placed high up in the fork 
of a tree, but often in tall hedges and thorn-bushes, is large and 
composed of sticks, those of the base being cemented with mud or 
clay ; the inside is lined with rootlets, and the whole covered with a 
roof of sticks. The eggs, from six to eight in number, are greenish, 
with small purple and brown markings. 
Leicestershire, April. 
Presented by Theodore Walker, Esq. 
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