THE CROWS. 13 



features are easily seen when the bird is flying. It is of the 

 same size and shape as the Carrion Crow, and many ornitho- 

 logists deny to it the rank of a species, because it often inter- 

 breeds with the last-named bird. This seems to us a mis- 

 taken idea, as there are many places where the Carrion and 

 Hooded Crows breed perfectly true, and it is only in certain 

 places and colonies that the two birds hybridise. We have 

 ourselves come across such mixed colonies in Aberdeenshire, 

 but there are also many places in the United Kingdom where 

 Hooded Crows pair and rear their young. When hybridism 

 takes place the young birds partake of the ground-colour of the 

 Hooded Crow, but have the grey plumage smudged and 

 streaked with black to a greater or less extent. In Siberia 

 the interbreeding of the Carrion Crow and the eastern form of 

 Hooded Crow (C. sharpii) takes place, and has been well 

 described by Mr. Seebohm, whose specimens illustrative of the 

 fact are to be seen in the Great Hall of the Natural History 

 Museum at South Kensington. 



Range in Great Britain, Chiefly known as an autumn emi- 

 grant, when great numbers arrive on the east coast and dis- 

 tribute themselves inland. For a week together flocks of 

 Hooded Crows are constantly arriving, and in Heligoland we 

 have seen them continually for five days and nights, .a flock 

 being constantly in sight, either arriving or departing. In Ire- 

 land, Scotland, and some parts of England and Wales, the 

 Hooded Crow breeds regularly, sometimes pairing with a 

 Carrion Crow, as already mentioned. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Hooded Crow has a 

 curious distribution, and may almost be said to exist in 

 scattered colonies throughout Europe, being in some districts 

 plentiful, absent in others ; in some localities a winter visitant 

 only, in others a resident ; in many places interbreeding with 

 the Carrion Crow, as already mentioned. The great stronghold 

 of the species is probably European Russia, whence migrate the 

 large flocks which populate Western Europe in winter, but in 

 many other parts of Central Europe, in Italy, Sicily, and Egypt, 

 the Hooded Crow is a resident bird, though always local. The 

 exact ranges of the European species and that of its eastern 

 representative (C. sharpii) are not yet determined, and we only 



