82 MID-APRIL 
And no one could help noticing their keen 
bright, bluish, almost pure white eyes, as they 
pose with their head inquisitively on one side 
when looking at you. If you see the three 
species we have been considering together 
stuffed, you could not mistake them. The 
jackdaw is the smallest. They are all black, 
but the jackdaw has a greyish-white patch 
at the back of the neck, which, however, is 
not seen tillafter the first moult. Of the other 
two the carrion crow is somewhat the larger, 
and has a stronger and more curved beak 
than the rook. Then again, the rook, zf an 
adult bird (that is, after the second moult), 
will have lost the feathers at the base of the 
beak, whereas this is never the case with the 
carrion crow. This leaves the skin here and. 
under the eye bare and bald and of a bluish- 
grey colour, which has given him the name 
of the ‘ White-Faced Crow.’ The sexes in 
these three species are difficult—almost 1m- 
possible—to distinguish. 
The rook’s nest is much like the carrion 
crow’s, but is more loosely constructed ; 
