ROOKS AT NEST 



CHAPTER III 



THE hooded crow is common in this part of the 

 country, during the winter ; to the extent, indeed, 

 of being quite a feature of it. With the country 

 people he is the carrion crow merely, and they do 

 not appear to make any distinction between him and 

 the ordinary bird of that name, which is not seen 

 nearly so often. He is the one they have grown up 

 with, and know best, but his pied colouring does not 

 seem to have gained him any specially distinctive 

 title. For the most part, these crows haunt the 

 open warren-lands, and, owing to their wariness and 

 the absence of cover, are very difficult to get near 

 to. Like the rooks, they spend most of the day in 

 looking for food, and eating it when found, their 

 habit being to beat about in the air, making wider 

 or narrower circles, whilst examining the ground 



