e NATURAL HISTORY. 



in other parts tame and familiar. The only note which the bird utters, as a rule, is a hoarse croak ; 

 and the idea of its having a song would seem to be impossible, but the testimony of many observers 

 agrees in this respect. Dr. Elliott Coues says that it is not, on the whole, so noisy a bird as the Crow, 

 though he croaks vigorously on occasions, and his caw may claim to be impressive, if not agreeable. But 

 the queer sounds that the bird can utter, if he be so minded, are indescribable ; even his ordinary cawing 

 is susceptible of considerable modulation. A favourite anmsement of his when, his hunger appeased 

 for the time, he feels particularly comfortable, is to settle at ease on the top of a pine-tree and talk to 

 himself. The performance generally begins with a loud caw, self-asserting, and ends with a complacent 

 chuckle ; and then comes a series of comical syllables, so low as to be scarcely audible from the ground 

 below, as if he were musing aloud and tickled with his own fancies. Then, he will raise his voice again, and 

 file away at some old saw for a while, finishing with the inimitable " cork-drawing " for which his tribe 

 is famous. The Raven generally breeds in trees or rocks, but he modifies the position of the nesting- 

 place ; and a good observer in California the late Dr. Heerman states that while he always found the 

 nests of the Raven placed high on bold precipitous cliffs, secure against danger, in the vast desert plains 

 of New Mexico he saw these birds building on low trees, and even on cactus plants less than three feet 

 from the ground, showing how much circumstances and localities affect the habits of birds regarding 

 incubation. 



THE COMMON JACKDAW (Colwus monedtda). 



Although the smallest of the British Corvidce, the Jackdaw may be considered the most sociable 

 of all ; for while the Rook takes up its abode during the breeding season in colonies in the midst of 

 villages and parks,, the Jackdaw,' when unmolested, may be found in the very centre of towns at all 

 seasons of the year. His cleverness and precocity render him a very favourite pet, and he may often 

 be seen hanging in a cage outside some village cottage, or imprisoned in the dark precincts of a 

 London costermonger's abode. For ourselves, we never could find it in our heart to cage oxir tame 

 Jackdaws, and all our numerous pets were brought Tip from the nest, and, as soon as they were able 

 to feed themselves, were allowed their liberty. Acting on this plan, we have sometimes had a dozen 

 tame Jackdaws about the house, all of whom would come for food when called, betaking themselves 

 for the greater part of the day to the fields and woods. A Jackdaw, when feeding at his ease, presents 

 a very stately apppearance, walking about with a dignified air, with the feathers of the head and neck 

 ruffled up ; on being alarmed or startled, he immediately becomes preternaturally sleek, every feather 

 falling close to the body of the bird, and giving him qxiite a changed aspect. It is in this attitude 

 that he is mostly represented in museums; and it was only recently that we discovered that the 

 ruffled appearance of the Jackdaw's head in life is produced by folds of skin upon the crown, 

 which, unless carefully preserved in the mounted specimen, is sure to convey an unnatural impression 

 of the bird. 



The Jackdaw is found nearly all over Europe, and in most parts of the British Islands appears to 

 be a thoroughly resident bird. In many parts of the Continent, howevei-, he is migratory ; and we 

 well remember seeing a large flock of over a hundred individuals pass over the island of Heligoland, 

 where, however, it was not nearly so common as the Hooded Crow. In old cathedral towns, both in 

 England and on the Continent, the Jackdaw is a familiar object, as it particularly affects towers and 

 old buildings for the purpose of breeding. On the sea-shore it breeds in the cliffs in large numbers. 

 Throughout England, however, it as frequently nests in the holes of old trees, which it occupies 

 year after year. In Mr. E. Shelley's park at Avington, in Hampshire, the Jackdaws occupy a 

 group of elm-trees covered with ivy, where as many as a dozen pairs breed in company with Star- 

 lings and Stock Doves. In this same locality we once saw a huge nest exposed to the air, and built 

 on the ledge of an unused window of a shed. The eggs vary from four to seven in number, and are 

 somewhat more bluish in general character than those of the other British Crows. They are covered 

 with small brown blotches and dots, which are sometimes found collected at one end of the egg, some- 

 times distributed almost equally over its entire surface. 



The following curious circumstance is related by Mr. C. B. Wharton in Mr. Dresser's " Birds of 

 Europe": "On the 30th of April, 1872, I took from a hole in. an old elm-tree in Cassiobury Park, 

 Herts., four eggs of this bird, which were so evenly daubed all over with clay that the shell was 

 almost completely invisible, and the shape and weight alone told them to be eggs. The one I washed 



