20 THE CROW FAMILY 



forms a right to independent specific rank, is a question which, if we 

 assume the continued absence of a universally recognised criterion, 

 would provide matter for unending debate, there being no possible 

 basis of agreement except submission to personal authority, and this 

 can offer no more than a temporary solution. In this work the usual 

 custom of treating the two forms as distinct species is followed. 



In the choice of habitat, within their respective areas, the two 

 crows do not differ. The grey species is seen on the plains of 

 Siberia and also the mountains of Austria, Scandinavia, and 

 Scotland. If the carrion-crow appears more abundant along the 

 central mountain ranges of Europe and Asia, yet in the British 

 Isles it prefers the woods and fields of England to the Highland 

 moors. Both species and their hybrids are, moreover, found 

 together, as for instance in Scotland, the valley of the Elbe, and 

 mid-Siberia. And they are seen alike on woodland and shore, marsh 

 and moor, town and village, wherever, in short, the food they like is 

 to be found that is almost everywhere, for they are practically 

 omnivorous, and not difficult to please. Like the raven, they are 

 ready to devour anything from a worm to a whale, from a sheep to a 

 slug. All is good that comes their way : rats and reptiles, frogs 

 and crabs, insects and spiders, grain and fruit. They will snatch fish 

 from the water and bones from a backyard. Birds weakened by 

 starvation and cold fall easily their victims. A young hare, or even 

 an old, they will hunt to its death with exulting cries. They will 

 attack the weakly ewe, first stabbing out her eyes and tearing out her 

 tongue, then doing the same to the lamb. Carrion they love, human 

 and other ; in all times they have feasted with the kites on the 

 abundance provided to them by the crimes and the heroism of man. 

 Many indeed are the gallows and the stricken fields that have heard 

 the grateful requiems they have croaked. 



In the spring, pairs may be seen diligently quartering the country 

 in search of the eggs and young of other birds, even making a 

 systematic search through trees branch by branch. The smaller birds, 



