312 CORVlDiE. 



one appear in any tree, they are I believe the erections of different 

 years, or are not tenanted at the same time. In wooded glens 

 and other localities, where the Conifera bore a very small propor- 

 tion to the deciduous trees, I have remarked the partiality of this 

 bird for building in the pine. Mr. W. M'Calla, of Eoundstone, 

 states, that " the grey crow is very common in Connemara, and 

 breeds in all the wooded islands of the lakes, in other woods and 

 thickets, and even in thorn-bushes in the vicinity of houses : it 

 lays from three to five eggs.* These birds are not accused of 

 doing much harm to the keepers of poultry, the dead animal 

 matter, at all seasons on the shore, supplying abundance of food." 

 He further remarks, " that in the upper part of Eoundstone bay, 

 they may be observed picking up the Buccinum boreale, rising 

 with them into the air, and then letting them fall on the rocks to 

 break them : in which they are frequently unable to succeed, and 

 have to drop the shell from a height in the air several times, before 

 attaining their object." Mr. E. Ball has seen one of these birds 

 drop a cockle (Cardium edule) on a stone to break it, while another 

 stood cunningly by to snatch up the prey, and succeeded in the theft. 

 All this is but a counterpart of what is related by Dr. Fleming in 

 Ins Philosophy of Zoology, as having been observed by him in 

 Zetland. I have myself repeatedly witnessed t the mere act 

 of its rising into the air with shell-fish and letting them drop on 

 rocks. This bird is useful on the sea-shore by consuming any 

 animal matter cast by the tide upon the beach ; but is looked upon 

 by the gamekeeper as an evil-doer, is accused of sucking the eggs 

 of game, and of occasionally destroying the infant brood. Accord- 

 ingly it is persecuted. A pair of grey crows was believed to have 

 sucked a dozen or more eggs in a wild-duck's nest in the aquatic 



* Six nests were built last season in trees, four of which were pines, in a demesne of 

 about sixty acres, near Cork. They were ascended to early in April, for the sake of 

 the eggs, three to five in number. The nests were composed of sticks, and lined with 

 wool and hair. (Mr. 11. Warren, junr.) 



t In Leigh's Natural History of Lancashire, &c, it is remarked of the " sea crow 

 (C. comix). Its food for the most part is muscles, and I have often with admiration 

 observed these birds to pick up pobble-stones, and then to soar with them in the air 

 to a considerable height, then to let fall the stones among the beds of shell-fishes, 

 which most commonly break some of them : they afterwards alight and feed upon 

 their prey," p, 158. 



