CARRION-CROW. 539 



CORVUS CORONE. 

 CARRION-CROW. 



(PLATE 16.) 



Corpus comix, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 12 (1760). 



Corvus corone, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 155 (1766) ; et auctortun plurimomm 



Temminck, Gould, Bonaparte, Schkgel, Degland, Gerbe, Dresser, &c. 

 Corvus orientalis, Eversm. Add. Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 7 (1841). 

 Corvus pseudocorone, Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 410 (1874). 



The Carrion-Crow closely resembles the Raven in its appearance and 

 habits. In spite of the incessant persecution to which it is subjected by 

 game-preservers and farmers, it is still a fairly common bird in the wooded 

 districts and on the rocky coasts of England, the Channel Islands, and 

 South Scotland ; but in Central and Northern Scotland it certainly is less 

 common and more local in its distribution. Gray, however, states that 

 throughout the mainland of the latter country the Carrion-Crow is generally 

 distributed. In the Hebrides and Western Islands it is rare ; whilst to 

 the Orkneys and Shetlands it is usually only known as an accidental 

 straggler after severe gales. In these localities its place appears to be 

 taken by the Hooded Crow. Dixon, however, in spring met with the 

 bird in some of the wildest parts of the Cullin Hills in Skye. He also saw 

 it at Portree, Dunvegan, and Talliska in that island ; but in all districts it 

 was rare. In Ireland the Carrion-Crow is much rarer than in England, 

 and is partially replaced by the Hooded Crow, which is commonly distri- 

 buted. It was known by Thompson to occur in the north, east, and west 

 of the island ; but in the south it certainly becomes rare, and the parti- 

 culars of its distribution are meagre. 



The geographical distribution of this species is most remarkable. The 

 Carrion-Crow is, strange to say, an East-Siberian bird. Its home is in the 

 vast forest lying between the great river Yenesay and the Pacific, a district 

 perhaps twice the size of Europe. Northwards the colony extends in 

 summer almost to the limit of forest-growth, and southwards to the con- 

 fines of the desert of Mongolia, the Corea, and Japan. Here, unharmed 

 by man or beast, they appear to have multiplied to such an extent that 

 emigration became necessary. West of the Yenesay the country was held 

 by an equally powerful colony of Hooded Crows ; and in China, India, and 

 the Malay archipelago a large-billed ally stopped the way. They seem to 

 have followed the mountain-ranges of Southern Siberia into Turkestan, 

 and, crossing the Caspian, to have forced a passage through the colony of 

 Hooded Crows, by way of the Caucasus, the northern shores of the Black 



