JACKDAW 



DAW KAE. 



PLATE XLVII. 

 Corvus monedula LINN^US. GMELIN. 



JACKDAWS build in cliffs, Church and other towers, 

 J rabbit burrows, the roofs of buildings, the holes of ruins, 

 hollow trees, the sides of chalk-pits, and even in chimneys, 

 despite of the smoke, as if conscious that it could not 

 blacken their plumage : they inhabited the ruins of Stone- 

 henge in Pennant's time, and may do so yet. 



The nest is built of sticks, and is lined with wool, hair, 

 grass, and other soft substances. Very large quantities of 

 sticks are collected for the purpose, so as even to block 

 up chimneys, and the spiral stairs of Church towers ; the 

 immense masses heaped together in the western towers of 

 York Minster formed a most unfortunate kind of firewood 

 for the last tremendous conflagration that occurred there. 

 They used to build in the tower of my own Church, but 

 when it was restored, wire net-work was placed in the 

 belfry window, so as effectually to stop them there ; one 

 persevering pair, however, would not be even thus foiled, 

 but actually brought a mass of sticks through one of 

 the loopholes in the tower ; and though their being natur- 

 ally conveyed crosswise in their bills created an almost 



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