MID-APRIL 71 
eregate for building, there being safety in 
numbers. But if the carrion crow’s nest 
be closely examined, one can have nothing 
but admiration for the cleverness and fore- 
sight these birds show. The nest was a 
massive structure, about eighteen inches high. 
(This, too, is about the height of a rook’s 
nest, and the eggs of the two birds are much 
alike.) It was bowl-shaped, eighteen inches 
across over all. The foundation and frame- 
work were of dead branches and twigs of 
all angles, some were eighteen inches long, 
and many were heavy and quite half 
an inch thick, whilst all were dexterously 
laid, and intercrossed into a firm mass. 
Inside this was a lining of wet mud and 
moss two inches thick, forming the bowl of 
the nest which was eight or nine inches 
across, and of the same depth. This was 
lined with stout fresh pieces of the inner 
bark of a tree, torn into strips about a 
foot long, and inch broad. (A glance at 
their powerful beaks shows that carrion crows 
have little difficulty in tearing and rending 
