234 Corvidce. 



resorted the night before ; he retires to rest later than the rook 

 indeed, as far as I have been able to observe his motions, I con- 

 sider him the first bird on wing in the morning, and the last at 

 night, of all our non-migrating diurnal British Birds.' 



Mr. Waterton also noticed that this bird is at times more 

 gregarious than is generally supposed. From his drawing-room 

 window, which was usually open, and from which a powerful 

 telescope always in position commanded a good view of the park 

 and lake, he observed this bird minutely, and he records in his 

 note-book that on January 11, 1830, he counted fifty Crows 

 going to roost ; on October 16, 1850, he saw fifty-five congregated 

 in the park ; on March 1, 1851, he observed sixty-four at the 

 water's edge; on May 11, 1853, seventy or eighty; and on 

 December 15, 1863, he counted more than a hundred congregated 

 in the park preparing to roost. 



96. HOODED CROW (Corvus comix). 



Loyal as I am to the instructions of my ornithological guide, 

 Professor Newton, I must crave his pardon if in this one instance 

 I repudiate with all my might the cruel act, whereby he has, by 

 one single dash of his pen, obliterated this handsome species 

 from the list of birds, and condemned it to share existence with 

 the Black Crow, of which he declares it to be but a variety.* 

 Doubtless he has good reasons for such annihilation of what 

 would appear to most observers to be a very distinct species 

 indeed, but yet I cannot honestly say I am convinced. That 

 they freely breed together is, I own, a very strong point in favour 

 of their specific identity, and Mr. Seebohm has established that 

 fact beyond the possibility of doubt ;f but surely the Grey Crow, 

 if not a larger bird, is of stouter build and of clumsier form than 

 its black relative. Speaking from my own experience (and 

 during a whole summer in Norway, and a whole winter in Egypt, 

 it has been one of the commonest birds around me every day), I 



Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 274. 

 t Seebohm's Siberia in Asia,' pp. 30, 81, 84, etc., also in His, for 1878, 

 pp. 328-331. 



