104 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST 
parts of the coal fields at the base of the coal measures, containing 
Spirifera, &c. The fragments of the piece of rock in which 
the first tortoise was found, were carefully packed and sent to the 
museum in Sydney. The piece of rock from which this tortoise came, 
was not preserved; perhaps it went to pieces and could not be 
collected. 
ON CROWS. 
By I. Barry. 
(Continued. ) 
ALTHOUGH crows associate in large flocks I imagine no ties of 
friendship bind them together. Magpies act as if they loved one 
another, as I will explain further on. The crow, in dangerous 
localities, displays sound judgment in the selection of a tree wherein 
to build the nest. The tree chosen is always a tall one, generally 
situated in a gully, or secluded creek or river bend. On the 
Murrumbidgee where they where unmolested they were not fastidious, 
a brigalow bush growing solitary on the plain, or a dead Murray pine 
served the purpose equally well. I remember, when going with 
another person to prepare a shepherd’s camp in September 1882, 
finding a nest in a dead pine with the old bird sitting on it, her tail 
and wing feathers extending over the side. I threw a shinglng 
hammer at the nest’without disturbing the bird. We made sure 
she was dead, so I climbed quietly up the tree and grasped her by 
the wings and tail, when, to my surprise, she gave a loud caw. L 
feel certain the bird must have been sound asleep. 
As I have already said, crows display much tact when breeding, 
and they are also knowing enough to maintain strict silence. Thus 
a pair will sometimes build and sit on their eggs in a tree close at 
hand, before you are aware of the fact. During incubation these 
birds become accomplished egg thieves, not owing to the fact that 
hen eggs are a more suitable food during that period, but because 
the temporary change in their usual routine of life, enables them to 
conduct such nefarious operations with a greater degree of success. 
I believe that the male bird does the thieving, which is conducted 
on a very sound basis, as it is extremely rare for him to try on his 
rascality if a man is about. One of my brothers, a selector at Lake 
Rowan, was prepared to give a reward of one pound to any person 
who would shoot an egg-stealing crow which haunted his place. He 
said that whenever he was absent, the bird would impudently alight 
on a tree close by, knowing well that his wife could not shoot him. 
(To be continued.) 
