CROWS AND ROOKS. 20? 



vegetable diet, or such insects as it can collect under the 

 sod of the meadow, or pick up in its progress over a 

 fallow or fresh-ploughed field. There is one interme- 

 diate link seen, in parts of England, between the Carrion 

 Crow and the Rook, namely, the Hooded-gray or Royston 

 Crow. They are clever birds, and when frequenting 

 the sea-shore, in search of shell-fish, may be frequently 

 seen, after vain attempts to break through the hard shell 

 of a cockle or mussel, to seize it in their bill, mount with 

 it to a great height, and then let it fall on a hard rock, 

 by which it is broken, and the bird has nothing more to 

 do than to reap the fruits of its forethought. 



It is said that this species of Crow will pair with the 

 common Crow, a proof how nearly allied the two species 

 are ; as it seems almost an established law of nature, one 

 at least rarely infringed, that neither animals nor birds, 

 essentially differing, however near may be their apparent 

 resemblance, will ever breed together. One great dif- 

 ference, besides the colour, which in the Hooded Crow is, 

 as we have remarked, partly gray, is, that the latter is a 

 regular migrating bird, that is, going and coming at 

 certain times of the year, to certain districts. But even 

 in this respect the Carrion Crow has been known to re- 

 semble it in a slight degree ; it having been remarked 

 by a naturalist, that in the parish in which he resided 

 no Crows were seen for several months, and what be- 

 came of them, or whither they went, he could never 

 learn. 



The Crow, like the Raven, may be easily tamed, and 

 converted into a very entertaining member of a family ; 

 though, like the rest of the tribe, he is sure to carry off, 

 to some secret store, whatever he can conveniently dis- 

 pose of. He soon becomes quite familiar, and distin- 

 guishes, at a glance, a stranger from one of his friends ; 

 and, even after a long absence, will recollect those from 

 whom he has received kindness. A gentleman had 

 reared one, and kept it for a long time, but at length 

 it disappeared, and was supposed to have been killed ; 



