TEE CARRION CROW. 9 



there lias to be brought direct from Hamburg, and hence the inhabitants are dependent to a great 

 extent on their guns for fresh meat. Hooded Crows, therefore, are looked upon as a very useful 

 article of food. We should be sorry to have to account for the number that were killed during the 

 time the migration lasted, as for nearly five days a continual passage of these birds went on in a 

 westerly direction. Scarcely had one flock disappeared in the distance than another was seen slowly 

 heaving in sight from the eastward. Sometimes they would fly straight over the island, flapping 

 lazily over the surface of the sea as they approached, and gradually rising to the cliffs as they neared 

 them. The flock out of which we obtained our first specimen passed over at a height of about twenty- 

 five feet above our heads. Very often, however, the sound of the fusillade which was continually 

 being carried on would warn the approaching Crows, so that they would skirt the island at a safe 

 distance, settling only for a few moments' rest on the cliffs at the western end. In such cases they were 

 always more shy and difficult of approach. 



The Hooded Crow is easily recognisable by its colours, which consist of a grey mantle and under- 

 surface, the wings and tail, head and throat, being black. In Eastern Siberia, in Persia, and Palestine, 

 the individuals of this species are very much paler in colour, and seem to constitute a distinct race, 

 while on the shores of the Persian Gulf a very handsome form of Hooded Crow, named the Chaplain 

 Crow (C. capellana), is met with. 



Concerning the inter-breeding of C. cornix with C. corone, we have made some remarks in 

 our notes on 



THE CARRION CROW (Corone Itiemalis). 



"We have already had occasion to allude slightly to the distribution of this bii'd and that of the 

 Hooded Crow, which it represents in many of the countries of Europe : as, for instance, in Scandinavia, 

 where the latter species is particularly abundant and the Carrion Crow entirely absent. In the 

 southern parts of the British Islands the Hooded Crow as a breeding species seems to be extinct, 

 according to the notes which have been contributed to Mr. Dressei-'s " Birds of Europe," but in many 

 parts of Scotland the two species occur together and inter-breed. This curious fact one of the most 

 remarkable in the whole range of ornithology is attested beyond all question by many excellent 

 observers in Britain and on the Continent ; and, as far as observations in the former have hitherto 

 gone, the male bird generally turns out to be a Carrion Crow and the female a Hooded Crow. Such 

 is, however, not always the case, as is evidenced by Count von Tschusi Schmidhofen in Southern 

 Austria, who mentions an instance of a male Hooded Crow inter-breeding with a female Carrion Crow. 

 The following note is contributed to Mr. Dresser's " Birds of Europe " by Mr. J. Lumsden, Junr. : " On 

 the 18th of April this year (1874) our gamekeeper told me that he had on the previous day found a 

 Crow's nest in a high Scotch fir on the edge of a moor, and had seen both old birds flying about, one 

 being, he was quite sure, a grey Crow, and the other a black one. Having got this information, 1 

 started off with him at once to see the nest. As we got within two gunshots of the tree the old 

 female (Hooded Crow) flew off, and rose, croaking, above our heads. She was at once joined by the 

 male (Carrion Crow) ; and as the two birds flew round us I could distinctly see that the keeper was 

 right that the one bird was grey and the other black. After this I visited the nest every few days, 

 and had frequent opportunities of identifying the birds. At first the female was very wild, and left 

 the nest long before we were within shot of her, but always soared above us in circles, getting higher 

 and higher each time, her cries bringing the male, who invai'iably came in the same direction, over the 

 shoulder of the hill at the foot of which the tree with the nest stood. After she had been sitting fbv 

 some time, however, the hen became much tamer, and would not leave the nest till the tree was struck 

 with a stick. At this time also we noticed that the male bird was shyer, and could only see him in 

 the distance. When the young came out, she laid down eggs and rabbits' entrails near the nest ; and 

 when watching at some distance we observed that both the old birds fed the young." Mr. Dresser, 

 having examined the specimens, adds the following note : " The male bird is an ordinary Carrion 

 Crow, and the female, which at the first glance appeared to be a Hooded Crow, is, I find, on closer 

 examination, a hybrid, though approaching nearer to the Hooded than to the Can-ion Crow in 

 coloration of plumage. Two of the young birds closely resemble the mother, whereas the other two 

 are to all appearance ordinary Carrion Crows, exhibiting none of the characters of both species which 

 I find in other hybrids." 



