OF NOETHTTMBERLAKD A^D DURHAM. 35 



Mr. Selby, in his address to the Berwickshire ]!^aturalists' 

 Club, in September, 1834, after mentioning that a Hooded Crow 

 had, in the previous spring, paired with a Carrion Crow at Fow- 

 berry, goes on to state, that examples of a similar nature ' ' have 

 also been known to occur in Dumfriesshire by our distinguished 

 colleague. Sir "William Jardine." And Temminck remarks, that 

 in the northern countries of Europe, where the C. corone is rare, a 

 mixed breed is sometimes produced between it and the C. comix. 



In Forfarshire, likewise, these two birds have been known to 

 breed together. Indeed, it would appear, that wherever these so- 

 called species occur together iu spring they freely pair. Baron 

 De Selys-Longchamps, in his "Notes on various Birds observed 

 in the ItaKan Museums in 1866," recently published in the 

 "Ibis," states that Salvadori "made me remark that Corvus 

 comix, which breeds on the coast of Liguria, seems to be derived 

 from C. corone. Specimens are often black, with grey on the 

 breast only; others have grey on the back, but the upper and 

 lower tail coverts are black. In Sardinia, on the contrary, the 

 C. comix resembles the light grey of northern Europe, which 

 winters in Belgium." 



Specimens, showing this iatermixture, seem not to be uncom- 

 monly found scattered about. 



Degland and Gerbe state, that varieties of the Hooded Crow 

 are sometimes nearly black. I have in my possession an indi- 

 vidual all black, with the exception of a grey band across the 

 breast. It was killed near Richmond, Yorkshire. 



The fact of this extensive interbreeding of the Carrion and 

 Hooded Crow is very interesting, and is assuredly contrary to 

 analogy. Hybridism is not uncommon in the animal kingdom 

 as an exceptional occurrence ; but I know of no other instance 

 of such a constant unhesitating union of two so-called species as 

 is here exhibited. "Whenever these two forms associate together 

 in spring they seem habitually to pair, showing no special prefer- 

 ence for partners of their own colour. And it is impossible, with 

 such information as we have before us, not to question the speci- 

 fic value of these two reputedly distinct forms : surely they must 

 be mere races of the same species. The mongrels seem to breed 



