214 Mr. E, L. Layard on the Ornithology of Ceylon. 



As soon as the carrion crow detects an animal lying on the 

 ground, it utters a curious soft modulated " caw/^ wheeling in 

 circles round the object of its curiosity, beating the air with 

 heavy strokes, and then joining the wings over the back, it sails 

 down and alights within a few feet of its hoped-for prey. These 

 motions are known and understood by all the crows in the vici- 

 nity, who immediately flock to the expected banquet. One 

 bolder than the rest now approaches and hops upon the animaFs 

 body : as this is not an unusual practice with them whilst search- 

 ing for ticks, the animal lies still, till the crow peers into its 

 eyes, when, should it be in a state to defend itself, a shake of the 

 head rids it of its dangerous friend, who then, instead of feasting 

 on its eyeballs, performs the grateful ofiice of ridding it of its 

 vei-min. Far different, however, is the fate of the wretched animal 

 dying of disease or of the deadly rifle-ball ; full well the carrion 

 crow knows the dim eye over which the shadows of death are 

 stealing, and, like the wretches who rob the dying on the field of 

 battle, he hastens its last moments. Plunging its powerful bill 

 into the eyeball of his victim, it tugs at it, despite the feeble 

 struggles which oppose it, and is soon joined by its now bolder 

 companions, some pecking at the eyes, some at the fatal wound 

 or sore, but all select those points where the thinness of the skin, 

 or an abrasion in it, ofi'er an easy access to the entrails : these 

 once reached are torn out and swallowed, but the eye is inva- 

 riably the first point of attack. 



About the villages the carrion crow builds in the cocoa-nut 

 trees : in the jungles it selects a tall tree, amid the upper branches 

 of which it fixes a framework of sticks, and on this constructs a 

 nest of twigs and grasses. The eggs, from three to five in num- 

 ber, are usually of a dull greenish brown colour, thickly mottled 

 with brown ; these markings being most prevalent at the small 

 end. Axis 1^ inch, diam. \\ inch. They are usually laid iu 

 January or February. 



149. CoRvus SPLENDENS, VieiU. Cagum, Mai. Caravy-caca, 

 Cing. j lit. Low-caste or Fisher Crow, from its frequenting 

 the sea-coast. 



The common hooded crow is essentially a " cit,^^ he is never 

 found away from towns, and the denser the population the more 

 frequent is he. He builds his nest in the hibiscus-trees in the 

 court-yard of the Government House, or of the merchant's store, 

 and while in these situations the windows of his white fellow- 

 citizens often overlook his domestic arrangements ; he in turn, 

 from his eyrie on the top of the rocking palm, looks down on the 

 lowly huts of the black ones. He levies contributions on all 



