CARRION CROW. 231 



of rising in the air, and allowing the shell to fall 

 and break, so that the interior can be obtained, 

 has been often cited as an instance of high instinct, 

 and of the fact that animals will perform an 

 action with a foreknowledge or memory of the 

 result which is to be effected. Reptiles are also 

 sometimes seized, particularly frogs in the very 

 young, or in the tadpole state. We once saw 

 this bird seize and carry off an adder ; it exhi- 

 bited great wariness of approach, but at last used 

 a favourable opportunity, and seized the reptile 

 behind the head, and immediately flew off, it 

 passed in flight within a few yards, and we could 

 distinctly see the manner in which it was held. 



The Carrion Crow is a more woodland bird 

 than the preceding. It lives in pairs, or continues 

 during the barren part of the season in small 

 troops, the amount of the last brood. The nest, 

 strongly framed with sticks, and warmly lined 

 with wool and hair, is almost always placed on a 

 tree, and at a considerable distance from the 

 ground. At times in a wild sub-alpine sheep dis- 

 trict, where the ravines and green sides of the 

 mountain valleys are dotted with a few natural, 

 rugged thorn and mountain ash trees, we have 

 seen the nest not more than eight or ten feet high ; 

 but in woods and hedge rows, the tallest and 

 often the barest tree is selected. 



Though distributed generally in Britain, it 

 may be called an inland bird ; for in those districts 

 where our next species, the Gray-backed, or 

 Hooded Crow is abundant, its place on the coast 



