CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 47 



BLACK CKOW. 



Case 56. 



This bird may be found generally dispersed over 

 the country, though nowhere very abundant. The 

 bad character which it bears, and the persecution it 

 undergoes in consequence at the hands of the game- 

 keepers, easily accounts for its numbers being kept 

 down. ' 



I have never noticed these birds to flock together 

 like Grey Crows, but the brood of the previous sum- 

 mer seems to keep with the parents during the whole of 

 the autumn and winter; the family apparently only 

 breaking up on the approach of spring or the death 

 of some of their number. 



The bare space at the base of the bill of the mature 

 Kook is always supposed to distinguish that bird from 

 the present species ; but as old Kooks occasionally 

 retain the black feathers above the beak, it is as well to 

 know that the colour of the mouth of a Eook is a dull 

 slate, while that of a Crow is a pale flesh. 



The nestlings of both species show this difference as 

 well as the adults. 



I have frequently observed this bird pairing with the 

 Grey Crow in the Highlands, and I believe it is gener- 

 ally supposed when this is the case that the young 

 always take after one or other of the parents. 



In the summer of 1866, when living in the north- 

 west of Perthshire, I trapped one young bird and shot 

 another near the same spot, that had every appearance 

 of being a regular cross between the two species : the 

 whole of the body was black, except a small patch of 

 grey on the neck and back. 



