600 The Zoologist— February, 1867. 



the whole of the fork being filled up by it ; the sticks forming it were 

 heaped up in an irregular mass, and on the top of this was placed the 

 body of the nest, made of stout sticks and lined with a great quantity 

 of wool, hair, grass and old rags. The interior was ten inches in 

 diameter and six inches deep. The nest contained five eggs far ad- 

 vanced in incubation, and one of them (probably the last laid) differed 

 considerably in size and colour from the rest. Four of them were of 

 a pale sea-green, clouded and blotched with bluish gray, and spotted 

 and marked over this with olive-brown, and measured two inches by 

 one inch three lines. The fifth egg was of a pale blue ground, lightly 

 clouded with blue and with a few spots of olive, and was much smaller. 

 These birds do not exhibit the same amount of courage in defending 

 their nests as the carrion crow does. The female, in this instance, left 

 the nest when I was some distance off, and both birds then flew round 

 and round, uttering loud croaks, but did not come near while I was 

 inspecting the nest. The carrion crow will come within a yard of the 

 intruder's head. As I was leaving the locality of the nest, the male 

 bird, which I had watched and knew by its much hoarser croak than 

 the female, followed me, performing the most wonderful turnings and 

 tumblings in the air, and swooping down with a loud boom in front of 

 me. This continued until it imagined it had by so doing enticed me 

 away from its home. I noticed the following day that the female 

 recognized me at a great distance, leaving her nest and flying towards 

 me. The other nests were similar in every respect to this : one con- 

 tained five eggs, and the other I did not ascend to. It is singular that 

 the raven, otherwise a very courageous bird, should make so little 

 attempt to defend its nest. I noticed one of these birds last month 

 amusing himself, at a great height in the air, with three kestrels, who 

 were flying round him and dashing themselves against him : he seemed 

 to care but little for their overtures. 



Carrion Crow. — The carrion crow is very plentiful here, breeding 

 both in the tall trees in the low lands and in the extensive woods near 

 Hadleigh. They do not nest as early in the season as they are said 

 to do : I paid particular attention to this point during the past season, 

 searching the above-mentioned woods several times in March, and did 

 not find a single new nest. On the Glh of April I found the first new 

 nests, one of which contained four eggs; the others were not fiuished. 

 Two or three nests I found near the garrison, built in the elms of the 

 hedge-rows, were begun at the latter end of March, but did not contain 

 eggs until the middle of April. The eggs vary much in size, some 



