98 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
HOODED CROW. 
Corvus cornix, Linn. 
Pl. XV., figs. 3, 4. 
Geogr. distr.—Europe generally, though more common in the east 
than the west; in N. and Central Asia, and N. Africa; in Great 
Britain it is commoner in the northern than the southern counties. 
Food.—Grubs, worms, Mollusca, carrion, reptiles, small birds, and 
rain. 
s Nest.—Similar to that of the Carrion Crow: bulky; formed of 
sticks or large branches of sea-weed, and lined with dry grass, wool, 
hair, and other soft materials. 
Position of nest.—In trees, usually at a considerable height, or 
upon cliffs and isolated rocks. 
Number of eggs.—s. 
Time of nidrfication.—_IV-V. 
The eggs exhibit the same variations as the Carrion 
Crow, and therefore are not distinguishable from them; 
many eggs labelled in British collections as of this bird are 
doubtless those of the Carrion Crow, as C. corniz, though 
it occasionally breeds in England and Wales, is only 
regularly resident in Scotland and Ireland. 
The Hooded, or, as it is sometimes called, the Grey 
Crow, is, in the British Islands, chiefly confined to moor- 
land districts; in England it is an autumnal immigrant, 
appearing regularly in the autumn and disappearing in 
the spring; it is also more confined to the north than the 
Carrion Crow: in colouring it differs from the latter in the 
smoky-grey tint of the nape, back, rump, and lower parts 
of the body, except the black feathers covering the tibio- 
tarsal joints, and in its dark, horn-coloured claws.* 
In Siberia the Hooded and Carrion Crows were discovered 
by Mr. Seebohm to interbreed. He says—‘‘ As you travel 
eastward from Tomsk, for about 120 miles, the Hooded 
Crow only is to be seen on the roadsides, and during the 
last 120 miles before reaching Krasnoyarsk the Carrion 
Crow alone is found. But in the intermediate hundred 
miles ... . one fourth of the Crows are thorough-bred 
Hoodies, one fourth are pure Carrion Crows, and the 
remaining half are hybrids of every stage.’’—(Hist. Brit. 
Birds, vol. i., p. 547.) 
**T take the above distinction from the 4th edition of Yarrell’s 
‘ History of British Birds.’ 
