70 MID-APRIL 
was uncommon, for they mostly build alone. 
Seen from below, there was nothing to dis- 
tinguish their nests from those of rooks ina 
rookery. The subject of the photograph 
was built in the thickly branched top of an 
elder tree, and about twenty-five feet from 
the ground. This is low for a carrion crow’s 
nest, but elders were the only trees on the 
island, and it was an isolated place, which 
they like, so they felt themselves quite safe 
at this elevation. We had considerable diffi- 
culty in getting the camera into position. One 
has an antipathy towards the carrion crow : 
the saying is ‘give a dog a bad name, and 
hang him,’ soit may be that we object to him 
because he is black, a colour of evil omen. 
But there is real cause to dislike him, because 
of his robbing and cannibal instincts and 
unclean habits of feeding, useful scavenger 
though he may be. Other pernicious ways 
of his have been before noticed. Besides 
all this he is malicious. Crows have been 
known to pull a rookery to pieces, and it is 
because of this that rooks are said to con- 
