280 



comix as " wanting the grey," while several Scottish 

 observers on the other hand have considered grey feathers 

 to he an unfailing characteristic of the hen.* 



In Ireland the Grey Crow is common and resident, accord- 

 ing to Thompson, in all quarters of the island, though in 

 some parts its numbers seem to decrease in winter ; but the 

 Black form is comparatively rare, and on that account 

 probably escaped the notice of the earlier writers who men- 

 tioned Irish birds such as Payne, in 1589, and Moryson, 

 in 1617, who deny its occurrence there, Charles Smith, in 

 1750, being apparently the first to include it among those of 

 the County Cork. It was known to Thompson as appearing 

 in the north, east and west, as well as in Kilkenny and 

 Tipperary, but details of its distribution are wholly wanting. 

 Nor is evidence forthcoming of its breeding there, unless 

 paired with the Grey Crow, of which there is a single case 

 recorded in Antrim. Mr. Watters says that he had never 

 met with the Black form in the eastern counties, and that 

 the only examples he had ever seen were two, obtained in 

 Clare in the summer of 1846, though he had heard of its 

 occasional occurrence near Belfast, where indeed Thompson 

 had already noticed it. Lord Clermont informs the Editor 

 that one was trapped in May 1851 at Ravensdale Park the 

 sole instance to his knowledge of its appearance in that 

 neighbourhood. All this testimony, taken with the silence 

 of other observers, shews that the Black Crow is but an 

 accidental visitor to Ireland. 



Northward of the British Islands the Grey Crow is a 

 common resident in the Faroes, and occasionally strays to 

 Iceland, where also the Black Crow has been reported, but 

 very doubtfully, though it perhaps sometimes reaches the 

 Faeroes. The latter is a rare visitant to Norway, and still 



* This divergence of opinion is probably due to the fact of the particular 

 observer relying on insufficient evidence. Having once perhaps ascertained the 

 sex of the grey or black partner of a pair, he imagines that all other cases must 

 be similar ; not knowing that a Black hen may mate with a Grey cock and 

 vice versa. Any doubt on the subject should be dispelled by St. John's statement 

 (op. cit.} that he had killed Crows "in every shade of plumage from pure black to 

 the perfectly marked " Hooded Crow, " and this without reference to age or sex." 



