corvViD^E. 91 



Jackdaw which used to flj' in and out of the windows and pervade the 

 street. The cliff-haunting Jackdaws assemble in large flocks in the 

 autumn, aud come inland, visiting the stubbles. 



Carrion-Crow. Corvus corone, Linn. 

 [BlackbilL] 



Eesident, generally distributed and common in the southern part of the 

 county. Breeds. According to Polwhele it was not common when he 

 wrote in 1797 (Hist. Devon, i. chap. 6). 



This most mischievous bird, well styled a raven in miniature, is common 

 enough throughout the south-western district except in those few localities 

 where the guns and traps of keepers have effected some diminution in its 

 numbers. It is a solitary bird, and it is rare to see more than a pair 

 together, except at the time when the young birds are first out of the 

 nest, when thej' keep in company with the old birds for a few weeks. 

 The Common Crow can also be credited with a full share of the wariness 

 and cunning of its tribe, and it is in general a difficult bird to approach. 

 Shooting on Dartmoor, we have once or twice been astonished at the un- 

 suspicious conduct of the Crows frequenting its wilds, which have flown 

 deliberately up to our gun to their own exceeding discomfiture. 



Young birds, birds' eggs, carrion, insects, and grain form the food of 

 the Crow. It is very destructive to young poultry, and Col. Montagu saw 

 a Crow strike a Pigeon dead from the top of a barn. It will also attack 

 sicklj lambs, and kill young hares and rabbits. The Crow, when it has 

 satisfied its hunger, will conceal the remainder of its food for a future 

 meal. Col. Montagu saw two Crows by the sea-shore busy in removing 

 some small fish (the refuse of a fisherman's net) from the edge of the 

 flowing tide, and conveying them one by one beyond the usual flux of the 

 tide, or just above high-water mark, and there deposit them under the 

 larger stones or broken j'ocks, after having most amply satisfied the imme- 

 diate calls of hunger. The Colonel also once witnessed a combat between 

 a Crow and a weazel, in which the latter succeeded in killing its opponent 

 and carried off its body. 



The Carrion-Crow is not a very common bird in N. Devon. It was far 

 otherwise when wo resided in North Pembrokeshire, where Ave had very 

 ample opportunities of studying this bird, as the Crows came from all the 

 country round to nest in the small plantations adjoining our house. One 

 sjjring we took twenty-two nests in our grounds, and at all times waged war 

 against these cgg-stealers. Beneath one nest which was placed in an ivy- 

 covered ash tree we picked up ten recently-sucked Pheasant's eggs and fivo 

 Moorhen's eggs ; all were (juite fresh, still containing the whites, proving 

 that it is only the yelk which the Crow cares for and carries in its beak to 

 the young birds in tlie nest. Crows aie devoted parents, as wo observed in 

 ficveral touching cases, when the old Itirds, at other times so wary, were 

 willing to expose and sacrifice themselves rather than leave their broods. 

 The noises these birds make in the spring, and again in tlie autumn, wo 



