168 SPRING. 



whole time of the incubation ; and after the brood is 

 hatched, one of the parents generally waits by the nest, 

 and is even more watchful as the young approach that 

 stage when they take to the branches. This is the 

 time, indeed, when they are exposed to the greatest 

 danger, as, before their wings can act as balancers, 

 they get upon the edge of the nest, lose their poise 

 and fall over; then if they are not killed by the fall 

 which, on account of the height from which they drop, 

 is generally the case, unless their descent be broken by 

 elastic limbs they are preyed upon by carrion crows 

 and ravens, as well as by weasels and other small qua- 

 drupeds. At that time the old ones may be seen keep- 

 ing the brood in the nest by force ; and sometimes 

 when two nests are confluent, which, in a crowded 

 rookery, is often the case, these corrections of the 

 young lead to altercations between the neighbouring 

 parents. 



From the situation of the nests, the young must be 

 fully fledged and able to take the wing before they can 

 do any thing in the way of finding their own food, and 

 thus the labour of the parents is more protracted than 

 that of many other birds. The broods consist of four 

 or five ; the eggs being of a bluish green, mottled with 

 large dark coloured blotches, which are more nume- 

 rous toward the thick end. These sometimes, though 

 rarely, drop through the nest. When the young crows 

 make their first appearance in the fields, they are still 

 caressed and partially fed by the old ones. They may 

 be easily known from their smaller size, and the want 

 of the naked arid scaly portion of white at the base of 

 the bill ; their plumage is also more entire than that 



