3 i2 PERCHING BIRDS. 



In the autumn the rooks band together to plunder cornfields. They also do 

 much mischief to young turnips, often tearing up thousands of newly-planted 

 seedlings : and in severe weather they attack the roots of the turnips, or devour 

 such small birds as have become too enfeebled by want of food to elude their 

 enemies. During the greater part of the year they are gregarious, and many of 

 their established " rookeries " contain myriads of birds every night. Their sagacity 

 enables them to evade the various forms of destruction which reduce the numbers 

 of other birds, and, as they are extremely long-lived, the rapid increase in their 

 numbers has become somewhat alarming. Though less easily reconciled to captivity 

 than other members of the famihj . they are nevertheless lively and amusing pets. 

 The daw or jackdaw (C. monedula) is readily distinguished from 

 other crows by its small size, less powerful bill, and slaty-grey collar, 

 the remainder of the plumage' being entire black in the western form. The 

 typical European daw is replaced in Northern Asia and Japan by Pallas's daw 

 (C. elm rims), which wears a broad collar of ashy white and has a white belly. 

 The daw is distributed locally throughout temperate Europe, and is very abundant 

 in parts of Algeria. A highly gregarious species even in the breeding-season, it 

 forms colonies in low cliffs, nesting numerously in the holes and recesses formed 

 by weathering. Elsewhere single pairs appropriate disused rooks' nests, adapting 

 them to their own purposes. Not the least remarkable of the many idiosyncrasies 

 of this familiar bird, is the readiness with which it contents itself with every 

 variety of nesting site, rearing its young as happily in a disused rabbit-hole as in 

 the belfry of a church. The nest is often a cumbrous pile of sticks, carefully lined 

 with hair, wool, or other soft material. The eggs vary in number from four to 

 six, and are bluish green spotted with grey and brown. Mr. Tait says that the 

 jackdaws frequenting the islands on the coast of Galicia breed in holes under the 

 stmies, and follow the droves of pigs, in order to secure the insects which these 

 animals turn up when grubbing in the soil with their snouts. While the pig 

 ploughs up the ground, they may often be seen perching on its back, waiting their 

 opportunity. During seasons of drought jackdaws are sometimes compelled by 

 hunger to commit serious depredations upon the pheasant-coops, in consequence 

 of the earthworms upon which these birds largely subsist having retired from the 

 surface to secure moisture at a greater depth. This species does not appear to 

 make the migratory journeys frequently accomplished by rooks and hooded crows, 

 the daw being in fact of a somewhat sedentary character, as evinced by the 

 attachment which it displays for favourite nesting sites. A black variety of the 

 European jackdaw, in which the usual grey collar has become entirely suppressed, 

 has been regarded by some naturalists as a valid species. Although these are 

 rare, white jackdaws are sufficiently plentiful. Examples of a uniform silver-grey 

 occur from time to time, but are less frequently met with than white or pied 

 birds. 



The genus Nucifraga contains only four species, three of which 



'are designated nutcrackers from their partiality for nuts ami other 



fruits. The American representative of the genus is Clarke's crow (A. columbiana), 



a plain grey-coloured bird with glossy black wings, most of the secondaries broadly 



tipped with white, and the tail white, with the exception of the black central 



