82 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



hair, a thick tress of it, full fourteen inches in length, and 

 of a beautiful dark auburn hue. Where this could have 

 come from, or how the Crows got hold of it, it is hard to 

 say. Were it a short twisted tuft, one might believe it 

 the castaway combings of a head ; but a tress of such 

 thickness, length, and beauty, where is the woman or 

 girl likely to part with the precious treasure ? 



Nor is this all, my Crow's nest affording still other food 

 for curious reflection. In its varied material of lining 

 are several scraps of old newspapers ; which, as with the 

 nest of a chaffinch I have already given account of, have 

 been taken chiefly from the advertising columns, these 

 two setting forth the merits of various patent medicines. 

 Conspicuous among them is a " cure all," warranted to 

 relieve every ill flesh is heir to. I refrain from giving 

 the name of this wonderful specific, lest I might be 

 accused of puffing it. Therefore the curious must be 

 contented with my telling them it is not " Cockle's 

 Antibilious Pills." 



THE CROW A FAMILY BIRD. 



Acute and conscientious as was the naturalist of Sel- 

 borne, he has made some mistakes ; one about the Crow, 

 or, as commonly called, " Carrion" Crow (Corvus corone), 

 which he tells us " goes in pairs the whole year round." 

 An error that, with many more in relation to the habits 

 of this bird, has been perpetuated by Yarrell and most 

 other English ornithologists, so as to become the stereo- 

 typed phraseology of the encyclopedias. 



I am able to state for certain that the Crow never 



