CHAPTER XXIV 



Crows Confusion of names The Crow family Choughs Daws and 

 Rooks Lessons of a Rookery Starlings Grubs Lucky birds. 



THROUGHOUT the British Isles the name of " Crow " is so 

 indifferently applied to Rooks and the true Crows as fre- 

 quently to give rise to no inconsiderable amount of con- 

 fusion, many people knowing no distinction between one 

 bird and the other ; but this is as nothing to the indis- 

 criminate use of the Welsh equivalent for crow, namely, 

 Bran or Fran. It would be difficult to find elsewhere any- 

 thing approaching in vagueness the use of this word in 

 Merionethshire, where almost any fairly large bird of a 

 darkish colour that flies is so designated. Even when the 

 prefixes Gig, Cog, Craig, Crug, or Yd, are made use of, they 

 are so loosely applied that he who runs may read the un- 

 certainty pervading the mind of the user as to their appro- 

 priateness ; and very few people one meets in the country 

 are able to point out any distinctive feature between Rooks, 

 Crows, Ravens, or Jackdaws, or to identify the birds correctly 

 when they see them either alive or dead. 



When correctly applied, Craig-fran (referring to its usual 

 haunts), or Crug-fran (to its well-known croak, from cru, 

 hoarse), is the proper name of the Raven. Cig-fran (cig, 

 flesh) is the Carrion Crow, other names in occasional use 

 being Breuan y Brangrawciad, and Caniad. The Hooded 

 Crow hardly occurs here at all, and was unknown to anyone 

 I talked with, except one keeper, who had only seen one 

 once during several years' residence. The Rook, our 

 " homely old corn crow," naturally becomes Yd-fran, or 

 sometimes Bran lligwen ; a rookery being Nytha ydfrain. 

 The Jackdaw is Cog-fran y Cawci, or Bran tyddyn, in compli- 



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