The Jackdaw. 271 



that the danger is greater when a man is armed with a 

 gun, than when he has no weapon with him. In the 

 spring of the year, if a person happened to walk under a 

 rookery with a gun in his hand, the inhabitants of the 

 trees rise on their wings, and scream to the unfledged 

 young to shrink into their nests from the sight of the 

 enemy. The country people observing this circumstance 

 so uniformly to occur, assert that Eooks can smell gun- 

 powder. 



THE JACKDAW. (Corvus monedula.) 



THIS bird is much less than the crow. He has a large 

 head and long bill, in proportion to the size of his body. 

 The colour of the plumage is black, but on some parts 

 inclining to a bluish hue ; the fore part of the head is of 

 a deeper black. The Jackdaw feeds upon nuts, fruits, 

 seeds, and insects ; and builds in ancient castles, towers, 

 cliffs, and all desolate and ruinous places. The female 

 lays five or six eggs, smaller, paler, and marked with 

 fewer spots than those of the crow. 



Jackdaws are easily tamed, and may with little diffi- 



