132 BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



When driven from their haunts, the Hoodies 

 often make their home in the vicinity of a large town 

 where, of course, there is no game preserving, and 

 here they sometimes nest in numbers in the tall 

 trees in the parks. The nests are often harried, but 

 the Crows seem to prefer losing their eggs to being 

 themselves shot. 



This spring a pair of Grey Crows built a nest 

 on the top of a high spruce tree within the 

 grounds of a suburban residence where the sitting 

 hen had a commanding view on all sides. I first 

 saw her carrying up nesting materials on March 

 23rd. Then for some time nothing was done to the 

 nest, and I had begun to think they had forsaken 

 it, when they went at the work with renewed 

 energy and soon had the nest finished. The eggs 

 were laid about the middle of April, but never 

 hatched out. 



The hen was very shy, and if you looked at 

 the nest through your field glasses at some 

 distance off, she immediately flew away. She 

 used to fly to a neighbouring tree and perch 

 on the topmost branch, where she remained 

 for hours. Gradually, when she saw that no 

 one came near the nest, she grew bolder and 

 would sit quite close ; but by this time the eggs 

 had been rendered unfertile owing to her prolonged 

 absences, and after sitting for about a month she 

 deserted in disgust. For over a month after- 

 wards the birds were still frequenting the grounds, 

 so that possibly they had thoughts of nesting a 

 second time, though this, I believe, is very unusual 

 with the Crow family. 



The nest was a large structure, and the eggs 

 numbered six. The strange thing was that 



