350 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



It is very obvious that all these are mere fancies, 

 and further, that there are few or no data by which 

 to determine the age of wild birds. We have indeed 

 observed among; house-sparrows, individual cock- 

 birds, in which the black markings were intermixed 

 with white feathers; but whether this was the hoari- 

 ness of age, or merely an accidental variety of colour, 

 we had no means of ascertaining*. It has been 

 long decided that the grey-headed crow is not an old 

 carrion crow grown hoary with age as is popularly 

 believed; but a different species (Corvus comix). 



* J.R. 



