CROWS. 57 



some such wild localities as the Yorkshire scars or Cumber- 

 land wolds. There is little to be said for their protection 

 or encouragement ; any little good they may do as eaters of 

 carrion or destroyers of useless lower life, is lost in the 

 immensity of their tenantless feeding grounds, while, on the 

 other hand, they undoubtedly tyrannize over game and weakly 

 sheep. " They will pursue even the buzzard, the goshawk, or 

 the eagle, to endeavour to obtain from him his own capture," 

 writes the Rev. F. 0. Morris, and consequently it may be 

 understood they would not hesitate to attack a mountain 

 hare far from cover in the snow, or rend a young sheep 

 astray from its companions. The only facts commending 

 this sable bird of Thor to our care is his place in history 

 and legend, and the tender heart of the naturalist, which is 

 Buddist in its encircling indulgence. Choughs and jackdaws 

 are equally neutral in character, the former crows with 

 scarlet legs and bills keep to a few rocky headlands round 

 the Cornish or Yorkshire coasts. It is long since they were 

 seen in any numbers east of the Solent, though Shakespeare 

 knew them well enough, and recently one observer writes 

 from Dover : 



"The chough has not been seen about these cliffs for 

 many years. About twenty-five years ago I saw one from 

 the parapet at ArchclifFe Fort, on which I was leaning, 

 looking seawards at a lot of gulls. It was flying amongst 

 the latter, and came within ten yards of me, so that I could 

 see its orange bill and legs. A local naturalist has just told 

 me that he saw a chough near the South Foreland some 

 twenty years since. I. think the jackdaws, which swarm in 

 these cliffs, occupying every available hole, would drive the 

 chough away." 



Jackdaws, on the other hand, are well known wherever 

 there are escarpments or ruins. No one can be familiar with 

 the south coast without recalling its jackdaws. In spring 

 I have seen them, quarrelling and building amongst the 

 yellow wall flowers and Valerian on the ledges of the white 



