84 CORVID^E. 



These birds usually appear in small parties except when 

 food is to be obtained ; and so destructive are these Hooded 

 Crows to young lambs, eggs, or poultry, that in the Orkney 

 and Shetland Islands, where they are numerous, rewards at 

 the rate of twopence for every Crow were paid by the local 

 authorities up to so late a period as the year 1835, in con- 

 sequence of which many were annually destroyed. On the 

 coast they feed upon sand- worms, shell-fish, and almost any 

 marine production. Mr. Selby says, " I have repeatedly 

 observed one of these birds to soar up to a considerable 

 height in the air, with a cockle or mussel in its bill, and 

 then drop it upon the rock, in order to obtain the included 

 fish." l)r. Fleming, in his Philosophy of Zoology, con- 

 siders instinct, in this degree, as bordering closely upon 

 intelligence, as implying a notion of power, and also of 

 cause and effect. May not such an act be referred to 

 knowledge gained by experience ? 



When removed from the vicinity of the sea shore, or the 

 banks of tide rivers, these birds seek the same sort of food 

 as the Carrion Crow, preferring animal substance of any 

 kind, seldom resorting to any vegetable production unless 

 driven to it by stern necessity. Their voice is more shrill 

 than that of the Carrion Crow ; but they are said to vary 

 their tone occasionally, producing two cries, the one hoarse? 

 the other sharp. 



So numerous are these birds on some of the western 

 islands of Scotland, that a flock of them were seen feeding 

 on shell-fish on the east coast of Jura, after a violent storm, 

 which did not contain less than five hundred, and not a 

 single black Crow among them. Mr. Salmon, in his obser- 

 vations made during three weeks' sojourn in Orkney, says, 

 " AVe found the Hooded Crow in tolerable plenty ; not 

 associating together in communities, but, like the Crow, 



