244 CARRION-CROW. 
reported existence near Archangel is open to question, and in the 
interior of Russia it is decidedly uncommon, though frequent in 
the Caucasus, the Black Sea district, the valley of the Danube, 
Greece, and Southern Germany. It rarely visits Heligoland. In 
Northern Germany its eastern summer-limits are approximately 
indicated by the valley of the Elbe; while to the west and south 
it is found breeding as far as the Mediterranean coast of France, 
the Spanish Peninsula, Northern Italy, Corsica and Sardinia. In 
Asia, it nests in Turkestan and Kashmir, while in Western Siberia 
it meets and interbreeds freely with the Hooded Crow; again pre- 
vailing, as a larger form, in the forest district between the Yenesei 
and the Pacific, as well as in Northern China and Japan. The 
occurrence of our Carrion-Crow in North Africa is doubtful, but 
visits to Madeira are recorded. 
This species seldom makes its nest before the first week in April, 
generally selecting for the purpose some moderately tall tree which 
affords a good look-out, or a ledge of rock ; but it will also build in 
a low bush, and even on the ground. The structure is composed 
of sticks, fine twigs &c., with a warm lining of wool and other soft 
materials ; the eggs, usually 4-5 in number, are bluish-green, spotted 
and blotched with olive-brown: measurements 1°7 by 1‘2 in. The 
Carrion-Crow probably pairs for life, and is generally to be seen in 
couples, quartering the ground carefully, with somewhat heavy 
flight, in quest of food. Carrion, poultry, the eggs of game and 
water-fowl, leverets, moles, rats, fish, mussels and the refuse of the 
shore—nothing comes amiss to it; but it will also eat insects, 
grubs, grain and fruit, like the Rook, and I have seen it on the hill- 
sides in the Pyrenees as well as in Switzerland in considerable 
flocks. Its ordinary note is a hoarse croak, but it sometimes emits 
sounds which may almost be called musical; while in confinement 
it develops some capacity for imitation. 
The adult male has the entire plumage black, glossed on the upper 
parts with purple and tinged with green on the head, neck and 
throat ; the nostrils are covered with thick bristly feathers, directed 
forwards ; bill, legs and feet black. Length 19 in.; wing 13 in. 
The female is less glossy, and has sometimes a brown tinge on her 
plumage. The young bird is still duller in colour. The inside of 
the mouth is always pale flesh-colour: whereas in the young Rook 
it is dark flesh-colour, soon turning livid and afterwards slate-colour. 
The Rev. H. A. Macpherson has recorded a bird of a reddish-fawn 
colour, the rest of the brood being normal; and Mr. W. Eagle 
Clarke has described a brindled-grey variety. 
