162 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 



Family COR VID/E. 



THE CARRION-CROW. . 



Corvus corone, LINN. 



IN Siberia, according to Seebohm, this species occupies the forest country 

 lying between Yenesay and the Pacific coast, extending northwards in 

 summer almost to the limits of forest growth and south-eastwards to Japan. 

 Westwards he is of opinion that, following the mountain- ranges of southern 

 Siberia into Turkestan, it crossed the Caspian, passed through an equally large 

 colony of Hooded Crows by way of the Caucasus, the northern shores of the 

 Black Sea and the valley of the Danube and keeping to the north of the Alps 

 spread over Germany, the Netherlands, the British Isles, France and Spain. He 

 was able also to prove that this species interbreeds with the Hooded Crow in the 

 valleys of the Elbe and Yenesay (as it is known to do in Scotland) producing 

 many intergrades between the two species, examples of which he presented to 

 the Trustees of the British Museum ; these have been carefully mounted, and 

 form one of the most instructive and attractive cases in the entrance-hall of the 

 Natural History branch of that Museum at South Kensington. 



In Great Britain this species is justly disliked and persecuted, both by 

 shepherds and gamekeepers; yet it is still by no means rare in the well-timbered 

 portions of England and Wales, becoming however decidedly commoner in the 

 northern counties, whilst in Scotland it is abundant ; in the islands off the 

 Scotch coast it again becomes scarce and it is doubtful whether it really occurs 

 in the Orkneys or Shetlands. In Ireland it is a very scarce bird. 



The male Carrion-Crow is glossy black ; purplish above, and with green 

 tints on the head and neck ; the wings similarly tinted ; bill and feet black ; 

 iris brown. The female is perhaps slightly less glossy than the male, but does 

 not otherwise differ in plumage. Young birds are without gloss and the inside 

 of their mouths is pale flesh-coloured. 



As opposed to the absurd notion that because this species is proved to 

 hybridise freely with the Hooded Crow and produce fertile offspring, it cannot be 

 a distinct species, Herr Ga'tke shrewdly observes : " The very circumstance, 

 however, that despite pairing having taken place for several thousands of years, 



