348 



Passeres.- 



-BIKDS.- 



• CORVID^. 



cavities of rocks, cliffs, and quarries, and also in chim- 

 neys, which are sometimes quite stopped by the quantity 

 of materials brought in to form the nest. It has also 

 been known to breed in a hollow ti'ee. The nest is 

 composed of a great mass of sticks lined with wool and 

 other soft substances, and the quantity of materials 

 brought together is sometimes enormous. A curious 

 illustration of this was furnished in Cambridge, in the 

 neighbourhood of the botanic garden, from which the 

 numerous Jackdaws residing in its vicinity, took it into 

 their heads to carry off the labels stuck into the ground 

 beside patches of newly-sown seeds, to the great disgust 

 of the gardeners. These labels were pieces of deal 

 laths, about nine inches long and one inch broad, and 

 no fewer than eighteen dozen of these sticks were 

 taken out of a single chimney in the neighbourhood, 

 occupied by Jackdaws as a breeding place. In another 

 case, a pair of Jackdaws built their nest on a winding 

 staircase in a church in Lincolnshire ; and, finding that 

 the stops were too narrow to fui'nish a secure resting- 

 place, they actually piled up a mass of sticks, occupying 

 live or six steps. 



The Jackdaw is of a black colour above, but not so 

 deep and shining as the preceding species, and ho has 

 the back and sides of the neck of a sooty-gi-ay colour ; 

 the lower surface is rusty black. The bill and feet are 

 black, and the iridos white. His length is about four- 

 teen inches. Like the larger crows, he is by no means 

 particular in his diet, feeding indiscriminately on grain, 

 fruit, insects, or carrion ; and, when he inliabits the coast, 

 on sholl-lish, Crustacea, and dead animal matters thrown 

 up by the waves. He docs not, however, appear to 

 be predatory in his habits, although he is occasionallj' 

 to be seen on the backs of sheep, either plucking out 

 wool to line his nest or searching for the parasitic insects 

 which infest those animals; this habit is commemorated 

 in one of the fables of iEsop, although the object of the 

 bird was misunderstood by the Grecian sage, and con- 

 sequently the moral derived from it will hardly hold 

 good. Young Jackdaws taken from the nest are easily 

 tamed, when they become ver^' amusing, and may even 

 be taught to speak. 



THE INDIAIT HOODED CKOW {Corvus splmdens) 

 I'csembles our Hooded Crow in its general appearance, 

 but is a far more handsome bird. It has the top of 

 the liead and the fiice black; the nape, neck, back, and 

 breast ash coloured ; the wings shining violet blue ; the 

 belly slate colour ; and the rump and tail black, with a 

 violet blue gloss. This, which is the common crow of 

 India, is a bold, familiar, and impudent bird, coming 

 freely into the towns and villages, and seeking for its 

 food ill the streets, without allowing ilself to be dis- 

 turbed by the bustle of the passengers. It will even 

 come into the houses and carry oft' anything that lies 

 in its way. It is, however, exceedingly cunning, and 

 seems to know by intuition wdien any one has a design 

 against it, so that it is a most difficult matter either to 

 shoot or capture a specimen. Its sagacity is well 

 illustrated by the following anecdote related by Lieu- 

 tenant Burgess : — " Some crows," lie says, " had been 

 sitting near a young dog, watching him whilst engaged 

 with a bone. Having apparently concerted the plan, 

 one of them alighted, stepped up, and took a pock at 



the dog's tail ; the dog, irritated, made a snap at the 

 bully ; on which a comrade, who appears to liave been 

 ready, made a dash and went off with the prize." 

 These birds seem to agree very well among themselves, 

 however, and even to manifest a certain amount of 

 kindness to each other. Mr. Blytli mentions his having 

 seen tw'O nearly blind crows, amongst a party of about 

 twenty, which were fed by tiieir companions like nest- 

 lings. 



THE INDIAN CARRION CROW {Corvus culminatus) 

 closely resembles our Carrion Crow in appearance and 

 habits, and seems to take the place of that species in 

 India. It is found in the forests and wooded districts, 

 and is a predatory bird, attacking young poultrj' and 

 pigeons, and hastening the death of wounded or sickly 

 animals of larger dimensions, making its first assault 

 upon their eyes in the same way as the Raven and 

 Carrion Crow of Europe. 



THE CAFFRARIAN CEOW-VTJLTUKE {Corrultar 

 cdhicollis). — Two Afiican species of this family are 

 remarkable on account of the form of the bill, which is 

 large, much compressed, its height being twice its width, 

 and much curved along the ridge of the ujiper mandible. 

 Both these birds are black, with a large white spot on 

 the back of the neck ; in the present species this spot 

 is semilunai', and the wing-coverts are brownish. It 

 is an inhabitant of Caffraria, and is a bold, noisy bird 

 of about twenty inches in length ; its food consists 

 principally of carrion, but it also kills lambs and young 

 antelopes, and even attacks large quadrupeds, su(^h as 

 oxen, buffaloes, and even elephants, when their skins 

 present any wounds or ulcers. In this, however, the 

 Crow is often doing his apparent victims a service, by 

 ridding him of insect parasites. 



THE ABYSSINIAN CKOW-VULTUKE {Corvultur 

 cra-'isirostris) resembles the preceding in its habits ; it 

 is especially abundant about the slaughter-houses, where 

 it feeds ujion the blood and oflals throwm out. 



THE BALD HEADED CROW {Picathartes gymnoce- 

 2>Iia!us) presents a remarkable resemblance to the vul- 

 tures in having the head quite bare of feathers, and the 

 neck clothed with short feathers. It is of a brown 

 colour, with the back blackish, the neck white, and the 

 bare head reddish ; the bill is black, and the feet yellow. 

 The whole length of this singular bird, which inhabits 

 the west coast of Africa, is about sixteen inches ; its 

 habits are unknowm. 



THE MAGPIE {Pica ca?/rfato)— Plate 11, fig. 38.— 

 This handsome bird, which is abundant in many parts 

 of Britain, is distributed throughout the northern parts 

 of both hemispheres. As it generally frequents inha- 

 bited districts in this country, and is very commonly 

 kept in confinement, its elegantly jiicd pilumage, and 

 lively, cunning aspect, must be so familiar to every one 

 as to render a description unnecessary. As food 

 scarcely anything coracs amiss to the IMagjiie ; in its 

 general habits it is strongly predaceous, destroying 

 young poultry, game, and other small animals, and 

 even occasionally attacking young lambs and sickly 

 sheep in the same way as the larger crows, whilst, when 

 these delicacies cannot be got, it will take up with 

 carrion, worms, and insects, and even with fruit and 

 grain. Hence, its fondness for the vicinity of liuman 



