238 JACKDAW. 



make the mass of nests, which the accumulation 

 of years collects, serve as a cover and substitute 

 for the shelter of caves or ruined buildings. We 

 have seen three or four nests placed underneath 

 one of those large masses, which was hollowed out 

 and added to beneath, so as to form a hollow 

 apartment, in which the various appropriate 

 linings were deposited. 



The food of the Jackdaw is similar to that of 

 its congeners, only being a bird of less strength 

 than many of them ; its habits are in a manner 

 modified to the power it possesses of procuring 

 subsistence. Amidst cultivation it associates with 

 the common rook, and feeds on grains, roots, 

 insects, &c. ; or being a little more forward, 

 it occasionally takes what can be procured in the 

 barn and stable yards, or in the garden, while in 

 the midst of cities and towns it is never at a loss, 

 and will indiscriminately feed on almost any 

 kind of offal. It is a bird very easily tamed, and 

 with moderate attention will continue for years 

 to obey the call. It will alight on the head and 

 shoulder, and take up an accustomed perch in 

 the kitchen, in expectancy of its usual allow- 

 ance. 



The geographical range of this species seems 

 scarcely to have been so much attended to as 

 some of the preceding. Over Britain and Ireland 

 it is general, but is wanting in many extensive 

 tracts of the outer Hebrides. In Europe it seems 

 nearly equally common, but to what extent it 

 ranges in Northern Asia, or of its limits, we are 



