The Zoologist— Novembkr, 1874. 4207 



two hooded 3'oiing ones having been found in one nest; he will, 

 I trust, give further details in a future number of the 'Zoologist.' 

 Mr, Gray gives the following additional information from personal 

 observation : it is elicited by Mr. Yarrell's unfortunate remark that 

 " birds unite with a strange partner rather than have no partner at 

 aH"(ii. 92). "To this suggestion I can hardly assent, as I have 

 repeatedly seen two, or even three, carrion crows fighting for the 

 possession of a graybacked one where the two kinds were flying 

 about in equal numbers. The last encounter of the kind I wit- 

 nessed happened at Loch Melfort, in Argyleshire. The three birds 

 (two black and one gray) were flying in company across the loch, 

 when one of the former attacked his neighbour with great spirit 

 and caused a loud outcry. Instead of leaving the black com- 

 batants to settle their own dispute, the hooded crow, which I took 

 to be the female, turned back on hearing the row, and joined the 

 aggressor in buffeting the poor victim till he was drowned." lu 

 the next paragraph Mr. Gray states that "throughout the mainland 

 of Scotland generally the carrion crow and hooded crow are found 

 in about the same numbers." Mr. Cordeaux, in his admirable work 

 ' Birds of the Humber District' (p. 63), seems to admit this habit 

 of interbreeding. 



In order, however, that too much stress should not be laid on 

 this pairing of the two crows, I may mention that, at p. 5080 of the 

 'Zoologist' for 1857, is a well-authenticated instance of a raven 

 pairing with a carrion crow ; the result was an addled egg and two 

 young birds, which remained in the nest until the 13th of May, 

 after which they were seen no more : no description of these young 

 birds is reported. 



Captain Knox, in his peculiarly pleasant and instructive volume 

 intituled ' Ornithological Rambles in Sussex,' has a remark, at 

 p. 100, which has an indirect bearing on the question, and which 

 1 cite, not as in any way supporting my theory, but rather the 

 reverse, thinking that when a moot point is discussed, no evidence 

 should be rejected : — "A few years since while residing during the 

 winter near the sea in the western part of the county [Sussex], 

 I noticed that the carrion crow was common in the estuaries of 

 Chichester Harbour, and along the whole line of shore from Selsea 

 Bill to Bognor, * * * but I never could detect a single 

 hooded crow within the same limits. This struck me the more 

 forcibly from having previously perceived that the last species is 



