JACKDAW. 235 



districts. They swarm in Carinthia and Croatia, 

 in Holland they appear only in winter and autumn, 

 and out of Europe, he states, they are very com- 

 mon in Japan. 



The head, throat, wings, and tail black, the 

 rest of the plumage clear smoke gray, having the 

 shaft of each feather black, and the centre rather 

 darker. In the mule specimens the gray parts 

 of the back and under parts are indicated by the 

 edges of the feathers being narrowly margined 

 with gray. 



THE JACKDAW, CORVUS MONEDULA. Corvus 

 monedula, Linn. fyc. The Jackdaw of British 

 authors. This species is of a more familiar 

 nature than any of the preceding, and in all the 

 cultivated districts of Europe where it abounds, 

 it lives as freely in the midst of the most popu- 

 lous cities, as in its natural wild localities In 

 noticing the manners of a bird such as the Jack- 

 daw, we are often at a loss to describe what they 

 are in a state of wildness, for we cannot say that 

 the belfreys of churches, or the chimneys of 

 houses, are their natural breeding stations ; and 

 with a few other of our native birds, their habits 

 have been so associated with cultivation, that by 

 many they have never been observed in their 

 really wild and original state. 



The Jackdaw, as known over the greatest por- 

 tion of the British islands, is one of our most 

 forward and familiar birds, frequenting ruined 



