ROOKS AND CROWS 227 



Magpies, with an undoubted nest, kept attacking 

 a Crow that insisted on settling in one of a row 

 of trees — also tall and slender — in which it was 

 placed. Both were equally persevering — the 

 Crow, though often chased away, always 

 returning, and settling generally in the last 

 tree of the row, where he would be left alone 

 sometimes for a minute or two, but before long 

 one of the Magpies flew at him, and put him to 

 flight. The Crow defended itself, but not, it 

 would seem, very successfully, and in the last 

 attack upon him, made, with great spirit, in the 

 air, a large black feather floated to the ground, 

 which I made no doubt was his. Yet this did 

 not drive him from the trees, and it was only on 

 my approaching nearer that he finally left them. 

 Thus we see that both species look upon the 

 approach of the other to within a moderate 

 distance of their nest as an intrusion." 



That the Rook suffers persecution from 

 the Carrion-Crow is a well-established fact, 

 and there is reason to believe that it has 

 another dangerous enemy in the Hooded Crow. 

 According to the late Mr Ussher, Choughs will 

 attack both Hooded Crows and Ravens. *' I 

 once saw," he says, " two Choughs energetically 

 attacking a pair of Ravens ; they shot up into 

 the air and darted down on the latter, whose 

 heavy flight made them helpless against their 

 agile tormentors." 



Birds of prey are often hostile to one another. 

 The Merlin is exceptionally pugnacious, and its 

 boldness in attacking intruders is well known. 



Q 



