200 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



The example shot by me is contained in the University Museum 

 of Lund. As I was not collecting at the time, I gave the bird to 

 Old Oelk. He stuffed it and sold it to a certain Herr von Gyllen- 

 krog, from Sweden, by whose will it was transferred, with the rest 

 of his collection, to the above-named museum. 



This bird is distributed as a scattered breeding species over 

 Europe, Asia, and North America. The range of its breeding 

 zone is most remarkable and without a parallel, stretching from 

 southern Spain and Portugal to very near the North Pole. 

 According to Captain Feilden's report, a pair was found nesting 

 on the rocks of Cape Lupton, as far north as lat. 81 44', during 

 the Alert and Discovery Expedition under Sir G. Nares, 1875 to 

 1876. 



38. Carrion Crow [RABEN-KRAHE]. 

 CORVUS CORONE, Linn. 



Heligolandish : Swart Kreih = Black Crow. 



Corvus corone. Naumann, ii. 54. 

 Carrion Crow. Dresser, iv. 531. 

 Corneille noire. Temminck, Manuel, i. 108, iii. 558. 



Among the countless flocks of Hooded Crows which pass across 

 Heligoland during the two migration periods, an individual of the 

 present species is of rare occurrence, and it is so exceptional to shoot 

 one, that for a number of years now I have been endeavouring to 

 obtain a good old example for my collection. 



At various times the view has been expressed, that birds resem- 

 bling each other in form, and only presenting differences in their 

 general coloration or the colour of single separate parts of the 

 body, are not to be regarded as separate and independent species, 

 as in the case, for instance, of the Black and Hooded Crows, the 

 Black and Grey-backed Wagtails, many Pipits, and even Plovers. 

 In support of this view, the well-known fact of general pairing 

 taking place between these Crows, with the production of fertile 

 hybrid offspring, has been brought forward. 



The very circumstance, however, that despite pairing having 

 taken place for several thousands of years, the two colours of the 

 respective species have remained pure and distinct, forms the most 

 striking proof of the specific independence of the two ; for, if they 

 had not existed originally aS two fixed primary forms, to which the 

 mongrel offspring reverted, though this may have occurred only 

 after several generations, we should at present know neither the 

 one species nor the other in its pure simple coloration, but should 



