Mr A. Cravj, Jun., on tlie Birth of G knur (lul tart. 107 



sently is heard croaking angrily with her mate at some 

 distance. When the young are newly hatched, however, she 

 sits very close, and the keepers sometimes kill the old hird 

 and the nestlings by firing through tlie bottom of the nest. 

 Although extremely rough and coarse-looking outwardly, the 

 inside of the nest is constructed with a mucli greater idea of 

 comfort than that of the rook, being warmly lined with 

 feathers and other soft substances. The eggs vary very 

 much in shape, some being more conical than others, and 

 sometimes out of four eggs taken from the same nest, no two 

 are exact in size and form. 



EoOK {Corvus frngiUgus). 



Great numbers frequent the district during autumn, and, 

 in fact, are to be seen more or less at all times of the year 

 but curiously enough do not build anywhere in the Glen, 

 although a rookery existed at one time in a pine wood not 

 far from the village of Drumnadrochit, but whether deserted 

 by the crows themselves, or pulled down by the people, I 

 cannot remember. The nearest rookery now is in the Beauly 

 district, ten or twelve miles distant. 



Jackdaw {Corvus monechtla). 



A colony of these noisy birds exists in one of the many 

 gorges of Abriaclian, certainly one of the grandest, as well as 

 the most secure, situations that could be chosen. At a heio-ht 

 of say roughly 1800 feet above the level of Loch Kess, a high 

 waterfall plunges into a deep chasm, the sides of which are 

 perpendicular in the truest sense, and perhaps about 200 feet 

 in height. In the clefts of these rocks the jackdaws build, 

 as secure from bird-nesting youths as if they w^ere in an 

 uninhabited island, but at the same time they are not abso- 

 lutely safe from any one who possesses and can use a gun. 

 They are not much molested, however, as the risk of shooting 

 them is no uncommon one; the slightest false step would 

 inevitably prove fatal. There are few more picturesque spots 

 in the whole district than this " home of the jackdaws." 



