546 BRITISH BIRDS. 



the Hooded Crow bears a bad name from his habit of devouring the birds 

 caught in the ' flight-nets/ Over these broad mudflats and marshes 

 miles of netting is set to ensnare the countless thousands of birds con- 

 tinually flying over them. If the owners of the nets are not at them 

 in good time in the morning the relentless Crows make a meal of the 

 captured birds. Many a wounded bird on these marshes also falls a victim 

 to the cunning Crow, ever on the look-out for prey. I have seen the 

 Hoodies congregate in countless numbers here in autumn ; and they also 

 do the same in spring, probably for the purpose of pairing and not as 

 ' craas' courts' for administering justice or punishment, as even some 

 modern ornithologists affirm to be the case/' 



The habits of the Hooded Crow in summer do not differ very much from 

 those of the Carrion-Crow ; and the haunts it frequents are similar. It is 

 an inhabitant of the wild upland farms, the rocky coasts, and moors, where 

 it wages an incessant war upon all creatures it is capable of overpowering. 

 It is detested by the gamekeeper and the shepherd as much as the Carrion- 

 Crow ; and a ceaseless persecution is waged against it. 



Sometimes the Hooded Crow may be seen searching for its food on the 

 water like a Gull. When carrion is scarce the Hooded Crow is a perfect 

 pest, and his depredations extend in wide directions. In spring he searches 

 diligently for nests and plunders them, from the eyry of the Golden Eagle, 

 only accessible to a winged enemy, to the little homes of the Pipits and 

 the Larks amongst the meadow-grass. He will rob the sea-birds of their 

 eggs, also the game-birds ; and even poultry are not safe from his attacks. 

 Nor are his inroads confined to the eggs ; he will also carry off the young 

 chicks, conveying both eggs and birds to some quiet corner, where he can 

 dispose of them unmolested. Booth is of opinion that the Hooded Crow 

 sometimes visits the eyries of the larger birds of prey to plunder the larder 

 provided for the young. Saxby gives a most graphic account of a colony 

 of Terns which beat off and ultimately drowned a Hooded Crow that, 

 bent on plunder, invaded their breeding-ground. These birds gathered in 

 force round their common enemy so thickly and pertinaciously that he was 

 unable to rise. Gradually driving him out to sea they beat him still lower 

 and lower towards the water, until at last he fell into the sea exhausted. 



The note of the Hooded Crow is like that of the Carrion-Crow. It 

 is a hoarse kra, repeated at intervals, and sometimes drawn out into the 

 syllables karruck, karruck, almost like the call-note of the Gannet. In the 

 pairing-season, which is early in March, he will also utter many pleasing 

 sounds ; and at this time he is certainly a most engaging bird, for his 

 notes are usually uttered as he opens and closes his wings, spreads his tail, 

 and sometimes performs various graceful aerial evolutions. 



The Hooded Crow probably pairs for life, and is a somewhat late 

 breeder. The Raven's eggs are laid long before the snow is off the moun- 



