DAW. 309 



ticularly mentioned.* The eggs, which are laid towards the 

 end of April or at the beginning of May, are from four to six 

 in number, of a very pale bluish-green, more or less closely 

 freckled or spotted with ash-grey and olive-brown, but some- 

 times of a french - white, marked with dove -brown only, 

 and not unlike Choughs'. They measure from 1-45 to 1*24 

 by from 1'06 to -92 in. The young, when taken from the 

 nest in June, are easily reared and become remarkably tame, 

 readily learning a variety of tricks. 



The Daw lays itself open to many of the charges of 

 rapine and destructiveness that are brought against its larger 

 brethren, and is certainly of a fierce disposition, as its at- 

 tacks on the eggs and young of other birds frequently prove. 

 Yet its comparatively small size incapacitates it from inflict- 

 ing the serious losses of which the Raven and the Crow are 

 often the authors, and it is said not to steal potatoes as the 

 Rook does. Its pilferings in gardens and orchards are not 

 to be denied, and its trespasses in this way are sometimes 

 considerable ; but on the whole it must be regarded as a 

 useful bird to the agriculturist, for in consuming injurious 

 insects it is hardly inferior to the Rook, whose foraging 

 parties it so often accompanies. It is a common attendant 

 on sheep, on the backs of which it may be frequently seen 

 to perch, and bears a good character for ridding them of 

 some of their parasites. In pastures it obtains a good deal of 

 food from the grubs which it finds under cowdung, but in a 

 general way its diet is almost exactly the same as the Rook's. 

 Of late the diminution of the Chough in this country has 

 been attributed to the Daw driving away that species from its 

 haunts ; but, as before remarked (page 256), further in- 

 formation on this point is needed. The notes of the Daw 

 are somewhat shrill and seem to have few modulations, yet 

 when heard among those of the Rook the contrast is rather 

 pleasing, especially as the former are ejaculated at intervals 

 in a petulant volley, while the combined flock of the two 



* The Editor was shewn by Mr. C. B. Wharton a lump of clay, bearing marks 

 apparently of the bird's beak, found by him in a nest the eggs of which were 

 smeared over with the same substance, as though intentionally. 



