BIRDS 



where it was probably resting after a long 

 flight {Hastings, p. 66). Its nearest locality to 

 Worcestershire is in some of the Welsh cliffs. 



[Alpine Chough. Pyrrhocorax alpinus, Koch. 



On the authority of a very careful observer, 

 Mr. J. Hiam, who saw a bird of this species 

 near his residence at Astwood Bank, Worces- 

 tershire, I introduce it into the present list, 

 though with great doubts as to it being any- 

 thing more than an escaped bird. At the 

 same time, as it was met with on four different 

 occasions in Heligoland by Herr Gatke, there 

 is no reason why truly wild birds of this 

 species should not appear in Great Britain 

 (see Saunders, p. 232).] 



75. Jay. Garrulus glandarius (Linn.). 



The jay was a common resident in Wor- 

 cestershire, and is still found in decreasing 

 numbers wherever there are woods and coppices 

 suitable to its habits. 



76. Magpie. Pica rustica (Scopoli). 



In all the most highly cultivated parts of 

 the county, as well as where game is preserved, 

 this bird has sensibly decreased in numbers. 



A tame magpie which was kept some years 

 ago by a woman having the care of a crossing 

 on the Great Western Railway, three or four 

 miles from Evesham, built a great domed nest 

 in what is locally known as a washing pan, 

 which stood at the door of her hut, and laid in 

 it a full complement of eggs. These were 

 taken out and replaced by other magpie's eggs, 

 but the cheat was at once discovered by the 

 bird, and every one of them was speedily 

 broken by her. 



77. Jackdaw. Corvus monedula, Linn. 



The daw is one of those birds which can 

 bend to circumstance in the battle of life, and 

 so holds its own. Accordingly it is a common 

 resident. 



78. Raven. Corvus corax, Linn, 



When Hastings wrote, in 1834, the raven 

 had become a rare Worcestershire bird. How- 

 ever, late in the ' forties,' it was still breeding 

 at Stanford Court, the seat of the Winington 

 family, as I was informed by the Rev. W. 

 Rufford, Vicar of Sapey, in a communication 

 from him in July, 1849. Lees says that in 

 1870, when he wrote, the raven might be 

 occasionally seen passing over the Malvern 

 district, and relates that many years before 



that date he saw a nest 



ith 



young just 



fledged at Sarn Hill, Bushley. If it ever 

 appears now in the county it is as a casual 

 wanderer from Wales. 



79. Carrion-Crow. Corvus corone, Linn. 

 We still have the carrion-crow, or as it is 



often called provincially the gor crow, and in 

 some localities it is pretty common ; yet, taking 

 the county through, its numbers have greatly 

 diminished within the last four or five decades. 



80. Grey or Hooded Crow. Corvus comix, 



Linn. 



The hooded crow is mentioned by Mr. 

 Willis Bund as a resident, but no instance of 

 its breeding in the county has come to my 

 knowledge. It has not very infrequently 

 occurred, but always, so far as I know, as 

 a straggler, and bearing in mind the great 

 number which annually pass Heligoland and 

 reach our eastern coast, it does not seem im- 

 probable that some of them may stray into our 

 county. 



I have known the hooded crow frequent 

 the sides of the Avon and feed on the mussels 

 which became accessible when the water ran 

 low by the action of the locks. It is also 

 sometimes seen in our pastures accompanying 

 the herds of cattle. Lees mentions one in- 

 stance only of the occurrence of the hooded 

 crow at Malvern. 



81. Rook. Corvus frugilegus, Linn. 



There is no diminution in the number of 

 our rookeries, nor yet in the number of 

 the nests. It sometimes happens that a 

 carrion-crow will visit a rookery to feed on 

 the rooks' eggs. The crow will perch on the 

 edge of a nest, and in spite of the attempt of 

 the rooks to drive him off, will deliberately 

 consume the eggs. The owner of the rookery, 

 though fully aware that there is something 

 wrong with the rooks, does not easily discover 

 what is the matter ; the colour of the crow 

 so nearly resembling that of the rooks as to 

 render detection difl^cult. I have known a 

 rookery almost destroyed by such a marauder, 

 or perhaps by a pair of them. 



82. Sky-Lark. Alauda arvensis, Linn. 

 The sky-lark is, I am happy to say, a 



common and resident bird in our county, and 

 we still have his music in our fields and 

 meadows all through the summer. 



In the afternoon of December 28th, 1899, 

 a bird flew past my brother, W. B. Tomes, 

 and myself, near the Avon, in the parish 

 of North Littleton, which from some resem- 

 blance about the head and beak to a haw- 

 finch attracted our attention. But the flight 

 was decidedly that of a lark. It alighted 

 in an adjacent field, and in the act of doing 

 so exhibited some white in the middle of each 



155 



