90 • THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



Jackdaw. Corvus monedula, Linn. 

 [Daw, Chauk : Dev.'] 



Eesident, generally distributed and very numerous. Breeds in the 

 towers of Exeter Cathedral ; old church-towers ; ruins, such as Berry 

 Porueroy Castle ; under railway viaducts ; in thick ivy against walls of 

 country houses ; with Rooks in trees ; in rabbit-burrows, as at Yitifer Tin- 

 mine on Dartmoor ; in clefts of the Dewerstone rock ; and in the cliffs of the 

 sea-coast in all suitable localities. This bird is decidedly on the increase 

 in the Kingsbridge district (E. A. S. E.). AVhite specimens have occurred 

 at Exeter, Torquay, and Plymouth. [Mr. P. P. I^icholls had a spotted 

 variety brouglit to him about ten years ago. 



We must confess that the impudent and rather mischievous Jackdaw is 

 one of our favourites. "We like to see him at large either soaring about 

 the windy pinnacles of some cathedral tower, popping in and out of the 

 crevices of some old ruin, or with his chatter adding another note to the 

 music of the sea-shore as he flits along the cliff's. From our beautiful 

 church-tower at Bishop's Lydeard we were compelled to shut Master Jack 

 out by netting the windows with wire, as it was his troublesome habit to 

 bring in cartloads of sticks, depositiiig them in the bell-chamber and on 

 the stairs, to the risk of anyone visiting the tower getting a nasty fall. 

 There is no bird which is more easily tamed than a Jackdaw, nor makes a 

 more entertaining pet, and none that becomes more affectionate to its 

 master. Some young Jackdaws we once kept about our grounds, which 

 were permitted perfect liberty, became very clever. One thing thej' 

 discovered was the op])ortunity for mischief afforded by the few quiet 

 moments of our morning family prayer. For this they would be waiting 

 somewhere on the lawn, and the moment after they had seen the servants 

 enter the room they would fly in at one of the windows, alight on the 

 breakfast-table, and be at the butter in a trice, and would then make their 

 escape with some spoil or other in their beaks. Some wild Jackdaws 

 which were daily passing at last decoyed our tame birds away, but some 

 weeks after this happened we were returning from church one Sunda)- 

 morning when a flock of Jackdaws flew over, and on calling to them one 

 was seen to display uneasiness, and separating from his companions gra- 

 dually descended until he settled on our brother's shoulder, manifesting 

 the greatest delight at the presence of his master. Jackdaws are insatiable 

 for water, and in warm weather like to bathe several times a day, and 

 several of our pets came to an untimely end by getting into water-butts 

 &c. while seeking to indulge this craving. "We have had them fly to us 

 with delight to place themselves under the rose of a watering-pot for a 

 good sprinkling. Insects, carrion, grain, birds' eggs, fruit, especially 

 cherries, and other things, go to form the very varied diet of the Jackdaw. 

 "When we had our tame birds we were keen entomologists, and often had 

 the mortification to see " good specimens '" of k- pidoptera devoured by our 

 pets, who were more clever in capturing the insects than we were with 

 our nets. For some time a fritnd of ours in Barnstaple had a tame while 



