92 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



considered quite diabolical and used greatly to irritate us. Perched on 

 the top of some Scotch fir, with iutlated throat, and jerking its body for- 

 wards -with each repetition of the monotonous, discordant crj', the Crows 

 would sometimes, one against the other, keep up their uncanny music lor 

 hours at a time. 



Carrion-Crows appear to feel the first frosty nights. A severe frost set 

 in early in November 1SS7, and after it we found numbers of dead Carrion- 

 Crows ; and passing an oak tree one very cold morning, saw a Crow fall 

 out. We picked the bird up, when it gave one faint croak and expired. 

 AVe have also found them lying dead on the ground after a long protracted 

 drought. These omnivorous birds are very fond of fish, and one morning 

 we encountered a Crow in X. ])evon flying heavily over a water-meadow 

 with a good-sized trout in its bill, which it dropped as we approached in 

 order to make off more rapidly. In the summer, when the streams are 

 low, we have noticed Crows searching for freshwater mussels [Unio and 

 Anodonttt). 



In winter Crows seek the sea-shore to feed on shell-fish, and many may 

 be seen at low tide thus engaged at Teignmouth on the sands. 



A pair will frequent the same plantation year after year to breed. A 

 pair have bred for more than forty years in a small wood near Topsham. 

 Crows have sometimes been made use of to hatch bantam's eggs, their own 

 being removed from the nest, and the precaution taken to closely pencil 

 over the shells of the substituted ones. On tSkumer Island we were informed 

 by Mr. Vaughan Davies that some hen's eggs placed in a Crow's nest and 

 hatched by the Cruw resulted in blac/c chukeus. As there were no black 

 fowls in the poultry-yard on the island, this was, of course, looked upon as 

 due to the foster->)arents" influence upon the eggs ! 



Carrion-Crows are still numerous near Kingsbridge (E. A. S. E., in 

 litt.), and near Newton Abbott (11. Greene, v. v.). 



A white variety was in Mr. Comyns' collection (E. M., Trans. Plym. 

 Inst. 1830) ; and a cream-coloured one occurred near Kingsbridge in l&SS 

 (ii. P. X.). 



Hooded Crow. Conus comix, Linn. 



[Mussel-Crow (X. D.).'] 



A casual visitor of occasional occurrence during the autumn and winter 

 months, but rare in the spring. It appears to have been formerly much 

 more numerous, frequenting the sea-shore near Plyrcouth iu winter 

 (Polwhele, Hist. Devon, i. chap. (3), and Dr. E. Moore says it was common 

 about our coasts in winter from October to April (Trans. Plym. Inst. 

 1830). In his "List of Birds of Dartmoor'' in Howe's 'Perambulation' 

 (1st ed. p. 230) he observes that it was "said by Pennant ('Zoology,' 

 vol. 2) to breed on the Moor, but resorts to the coasts in winter: be- 

 couiing scarce, however." Put Polwhele says it was never seen on Dart- 

 moor in summer. Turton and Kingston (1830) say it was scarce, but had 

 been shot in the neighbourhood of Plymoutli. 



