172 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



with great spirit, and caused a loud outcry. Instead of leaving 

 the black combatants to settle their own dispute, the hooded crow, 

 which I took to be a female, turned back on hearing the row, and 

 joined the aggressor in buffeting the poor victim till he was 

 drowned. Similar fights, in which all the combatants were 

 hooded crows, have come under my notice, and I conclude from 

 these exhibitions in the early part of the breeding season, that, 

 unlike their congener, the raven, crows do not pair for life. 



Throughout the mainland of Scotland generally, the carrion 

 crow and the hooded crow are found in about the same numbers. 

 In autumn, I have seen very large flocks of both in the north of 

 Banffshire assembled together in the open fields, and examining 

 the heaps of manure that had been laid down previous to the land 

 being ploughed. In September, 1866, I observed upwards of 100 

 of each in a field near the sea, at Findlater Castle, overlooking the 

 Moray Firth; they were comparatively tame, and allowed me to 

 approach within 20 yards. Having in former years seen similar 

 flocks alighting on the coast at Dunbar, in Haddingtonshire, I 

 conjectured that they were migratory flocks, and had just arrived 

 from the shores of Norway and Sweden. Judging, however, 

 from the comparatively limited numbers that are found breeding 

 in the eastern counties, I suspect that, on the breaking up of these 

 flocks, numbers return to the countries from which they had 

 migrated. I may here remark also, that both of the crows fre- 

 quenting the shores of eastern Scotland are larger and stronger 

 birds than those met with in the west. 



On one occasion, when walking along the banks of Loch Eck, 

 in Argyleshire, I observed a small party of carrion crows in a rye- 

 grass field, busily engaged in catching moths as they clung to the 

 stems of grass. The birds drew up their bodies, and appeared as 

 if wading at some disadvantage, the tall grass obliging them to 

 jump occasionally off the ground to reach their prey. This is the 

 only instance I can recollect in which it can be said that their 

 repast was not a work of mischief. 



