CARRION CROW. HOODED CROW. 67 



gular unpleasant-looking parasites. On one occasion Mr. 

 James Garrett, of Belfast, has remarked to us their occasional 

 occurrence in that neighbourhood during autumn. 

 Indigenous. 



SPECIES 64 THE HOODED CROW. 



Corvus comix. Linn. 

 Corneille mantalee. Temm. 

 Scald Crow. Praheen Cark. Carrion Crow. 

 OF the true predatory crows, this is our most common species ; 

 and, from occurring in almost every locality, we may observe 

 it during all seasons. Regular in its attendance upon the 

 shore in Dublin Bay, it may be observed daily, varying in 

 numbers from a single pair to five or six, all actively engaged 

 in examining the " rejectamenta" of the receding tide, and 

 occasionally making use of its curious and well-known habit 

 of obtaining food by breaking the shell of the cockle or muscle, 

 which it effects in the following manner. The bivalve is 

 seized by the bill, and the crow flies upwards in search of a 

 large stone, which, being selected, the cockle is dropped from 

 an altitude, and its contents becoming exposed by the fall, 

 the ingenious rogue descends to enjoy the prize his sagacity 

 has so worthily earned. 



The breeding places of the birds frequenting Dublin Bay 

 are at Bray Head, Howth, and Lainbay, the nest being placed 

 in clefts and fissures of the rock. Inland, the preference ap- 

 pears given to old woods, where the highest and most isolated 

 tree is chosen for the purpose. That the character of the 

 hooded crow would stand clear of the many charges alleged 

 against it is doubtful, as the old henwives in the country re- 

 gard it with especial abhorrence, asserting the injury done to 

 their fowl while in a weak state, and the plunder of the eggs 

 of every vagrant duck betaking itself to the fields to lay. 

 For these reasons, in the Irish districts, it has received its 

 best-known appellation of " praheen cark," the hen crow. 

 On one occasion, at Howth, we observed a hooded crow 

 closely pursued by six or eight sea-gulls, all clamouring a 

 complete u hue and cry" after this disreputable character. 

 Arguing from the silence of the pursued, and its previous bad 

 character, it was doubtless about to put its thieving propen- 

 sities in practice, by abstracting the eggs or young, when it 

 was discovered and pursued. From the observation of se- 

 veral gamekeepers, we find all agree in condemning this 

 species for destroying the eggs of the grouse in the breeding 

 F 2 



