46 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



occasion he took a small slice out of my leg, ut mos fait, and 

 retired to the top of a spout to digest it, amidst my yells and the 

 threats of the whole party. Happening to he near the place 

 twenty-five years afterwards, I ventured to ask for my old friend, 

 and to my surprise out he came with the same sidelong hop, the 

 same malicious twinkle in his eye, and looking more sleek and 

 diabolical than ever. I only heard of his death last autumn. 

 He took a similar liberty with a large dog that he did with my 

 leg, and got a nip in return that killed him. He must have been 

 fifty years old when he died, and was one of the finest birds 

 I have ever seen. The Raven is a bird of ill omen amongst 

 the Welsh, and for that reason is seldom, if ever, kept as a 

 pet by them. 



Crow, Corvus corone. — One of the commonest birds in the 

 county, and one that we can well do without. I believe this bird 

 does more mischief than any hawk ; he is always about the same 

 place, and always on the look out, not for carrion, but for 

 something better ; a small leveret, a partridge's nest of eggs, or a 

 half-grown rabbit — it all comes the same to him ; whilst a weakly 

 lamb has its eyes out before he well knows where he is. Although 

 they generally work in twos and threes they come home to roost 

 together, in numbers of from twenty to thirty, to the same 

 roosting-place, and by waiting them in a few may be killed ; but 

 by far the best way to kill them is to trap them with an egg and 

 a common gin. 



Royston or Hooded Crow, Corvus comix. — I have never yet 

 seen this bird alive in the county, and can only record with 

 certainty one instance of its having been met with here. 



Rook, Corvus frugilegus. — Plentiful, there being several large 

 rookeries in the county. I once visited a rookery near Brecon, 

 composed of oak and other trees with a very large ash growing in 

 the centre, and the owner informed me that, although he had 

 lived there many years, he had never seen the Rooks build in 

 that tree. Sometimes, indeed, a pair of young ones would begin 

 to build a nest there, but it was instantly torn to pieces by the 

 older birds, with every symptom of disapprobation. Why they 

 should avoid this particular tree, which was quite sound, he could 

 not say, but their continued and determined rejection of it showed 

 a unity of counsel and fixity of purpose which to me was in- 

 explicable. Only once during my residence here have I seen a 



