544 BRITISH BIRDS. 



CORVUS CORNIX. 

 HOODED CROW. 



(PLATE 16.) 



Corvus comix cinerea, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 19 (1760). 



Corvus cornix, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 156 (1766) : et auctorum plurimorum 



Naumann, Gould, Gray, Schlegel, Salvadori, Dresser, &c. 

 Corvus cinereus, Briss., Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. fyc. Brit. Mus. p. 18 (1816). 

 Coroiie cornix {Linn.}, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 99 (1829). 



This handsome and well-known bird can only be regarded as a winter 

 visitant to England and Wales, where it is commonest on the eastern coasts, 

 only occasionally wandering inland in some localities, but in others appear- 

 ing as a regular migrant. In the Channel Islands it is only known as an 

 accidental straggler in autumn and winter. A few pairs, however, have from 

 time to time remained and reared their young in various parts of England 

 and Wales ; otherwise these portions of the British Islands appear to be 

 tenanted in the breeding-season exclusively by Carrion- Crows. In Scot- 

 land the Hooded Crow is pretty generally distributed throughout the main- 

 land and the islands, including the Orkneys, the Shetlands, St. Kilda, and 

 the Faroes ; and it is also an occasional visitor to Iceland. In Ireland it 

 is equally common and widely distributed throughout the country. 



The Hooded Crow is the western form of the Carrion-Crow. Though 

 the area of its distribution is intersected by the narrow belt of Carrion- 

 Crows which connects the East-Siberian colony with the Turkestan colony, 

 and the latter with the West-European colony, it cannot be said to be dis- 

 continuous, unless the colonies in Scotland and Ireland be regarded as 

 isolated from the main colony, which extends eastwards from Scandinavia. 

 On the continent the Hooded Crow is found throughout Europe east of 

 about long. 10, and in Asia extends north of Turkestan as far as the valley 

 of the Yenesay, and south of Turkestan through Asia Minor and Persia into 

 Afghanistan, and through Palestine into Egypt. Examples from the 

 Persian Gulf have the pale slate-grey replaced by nearly white, and have 

 been called C. capellanus ; but Siberian birds are intermediate in colour, 

 and the Persian birds can only be looked upon as a local race. In China 

 and in South Africa Crows are found in which the black is distributed in 

 a somewhat similar manner ; but these birds are probably all specifically 

 distinct. 



The Hooded Crow is a migratory bird in the northern portion of its 

 range. Although it is a permanent resident in Scotland, great numbers of 



