C O R V U S. 



picks up whatever it can find in that all-producti\<> 

 locality. 



It is easily known by its colour, which is smoke 

 grey, with the exception of the head, throat, wings, 

 and tail, which are black, with reflections of a green 

 colour, but more inclining' to blue than those of the 

 black crow It is the contrast of the black on the 

 head with the grey on the back which procures for 

 this species the name of the hooded crow. The hood 

 is not so conspicuous in the female as in the male, 

 because the black is not so deep nor the grey so 

 pale ; but the common opinion that the female is 

 without the grey is not correct. The bill is black, 

 but rather paler at the tip, strong and arched in the 

 culmen, bearing a considerable resemblance to that 

 of the raven. The feet are also black, the skin of 

 the tarsi being plated. In the grey parts the shafts 

 of the feathers are black, and the grey is subject to 

 considerable varieties of shade, depending, in part at 

 least, on the latitude and the season ; and albinos, or 

 at all events, specimens in which only the shafts of 

 the principal feathers are black, are occasionally to 

 be met with. 



Though this species appears in England only in 

 the winter, it is not to be considered as a regular 

 climatal migrant retiring from the northern latitudes 

 during the winter ; for it winters as far to the north 

 as the Faroe Islands, and the isles on the coast of 

 Norway, where the shores remain clear of ice during 

 the winter. Those which resort to England and 

 other champaign countries of Europe, where they do 

 not remain during the summer to breed, must there- 

 fore be considered as driven from the wilds of Lap- 

 land bv the want of food. The resort of ground 

 building birds to these wilds during the summer is 

 very great, and hooded crows find an ample supply 

 of provisions in the eggs and callow young ; but 

 when the snow falls, or there is not scope and food 

 for them all on the sea-coast, numbers seek their way 

 to more southerly climates. 



But it must not, on the other hand, be considered 

 that these birds have any partiality for northern lati- 

 tudes, other than that they find food plentiful there 

 in the summer season ; for they are very generally 

 distributed in all places where there is food for them ; 

 and they are the common, or at all events the most 

 frequently seen species of crow in many parts of 

 India, especially in the wild districts near the Runn 

 of Cutch ; and we may remark that, generally speak- 

 ing, where hooded crows remain in large numbers to 

 breed, in whatever latitude it may be, carrion crows 

 and rooks are rarely to be met with. The absence 

 of timber, in such collections as to admit of rookeries, 

 and of such closeness as to hide the nest of the carrion 

 crow, may be partly the reason of this ; but still it is 

 doubtful whether it will account for the whole differ- 

 ence. The hooded crow is, for instance, the only 

 crow known in the Shetland and Orkney Islands, 

 and in those wild districts both of the highlands of 

 Scotland and of Ireland, where there are no timber 

 trees ; but there are also well wooded districts in the 

 highlands, in which, though hooded crows are abun- 

 dant, not a single rook or carrion crow is to be seen, 

 though in the lowland districts, distant only a few 

 miles, rooks are abundant, and hooded crows appear 

 only as stragglers. A person passing for the first 

 time from the land of rooks to that of hooded crows, 

 which is nearly synonymous with passing from the 

 country of lowland Scotch to the country of Gaelic, 



is apt to imagine that tne crows speak a new language 

 a< \\ (-11 as the people ; for the sound of the ruuk, if 

 not musical, is at least loud and clear, while that of 

 the hooded crow is at once hoarse and feeble, as if it 

 were a jackdaw attempting to mock the croak of a 

 raven. 



Where opportunities offer, the hooded crow breeds 

 in the pines and other large trees, in default of which 

 it nestles in the cavities of rocks. The female, which 

 is rather smaller than the male, and of less lively 

 hues, usually lays four, five, or six eggs, of a greenish 

 blue, marked with many spots of blackish brown. It 

 pairs during the whole of the breeding season, and 

 both parents are much attached to their offspring. 

 They are remarked for their double cry, of which 

 one is hollow and well known, and the other shrill 

 and somewhat resembling the crowing of a cock. 

 When other food is wanting, they will eat cranberries 

 and other mountain fruits ; in open fertile countries, 

 they live much on grain, worms, and carrion ; but 

 they often resort to the sea shores/and prey on the 

 various animal matters thrown up by the tide. Frisch 

 observes that they are expert at picking fish bones, 

 and that when water is discharged from ponds they 

 quickly perceive the fish which are left in them, and 

 lose no time in darting on them. They not only 

 attack the eyes of lambs and diseased sheep, but of 

 horses that have got entangled in bogs. In the Faroe 

 Isles, where they abound, they are particularly mis- 

 chievous, picking the seed from the fields, digging up 

 the newly-planted potatoes, destroying the barlev 

 before it is ripe, and carrying off goslings and duck- 

 lings, or the fish which is hung up to dry, to their 

 young. 



Corvus frugilegus (the Rook). This species, which 

 is to the inhabitants of well cultivated countries the 

 most interesting of the whole genus, is about the 

 same length as the hooded crow ; but it is lighter 

 made, and, when full grown, rather longer in the 

 wings. Its bill too is of a character entirely different, 

 being nearly straight, and having much less of the 

 predatory character than that of any of the three 

 species which have been mentioned. Its bill is bluish 

 black, with a portion of the skin at the base bare of 

 feathers in the full-grown birds, and covered with a 

 scaly scurf of a whitish colour; but in the younir 

 birds this portion is covered with feathers, which an; 

 projected a little way over the base of the bill. The 

 whole of the plumage is black, but glossed with re- 

 flections of purple, violet, and blue, which are very 

 rich and beautiful when the bird is in good condition. 

 The legs and claws are also generally of a black 

 colour. Sometimes, however, but not very often, these 

 birds are subject to variations, not only in the plumage, 

 but in the bill, the claws, and the naked skin. Some 

 are pure white, others piebald, others yellowish, and 

 in these cases the bill, feet, and claws, are generally 

 of a flesh red, but there is always a trace of darker 

 colour in the principal feathers of the wings and the 

 feathers of the tail. Specimens which have these 

 varieties of colour cannot be considered as permanent 

 varieties, and they do not perpetuate their colours in 

 their proareny, neither is it known whether they breed, 

 though it is presumed that they do not. These 

 variations are very rare, compared with the numbers 

 of the birds; and their cause is altogether unknown. 

 The rook is a native of most of the temperate regions 

 of Europe, but is not found much farther north than 

 the south of Sweden, where it breeds, but from which 



