SCRATOUERS. 



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in England, as in France, it is in some degree a bird of passage, 

 shifting from the northern to the southern parts of the island. 



Its prevailing color is grey, the tips of the tail dark, and 

 the neck white on each side. This species is large, measuring 

 in length seventeen inches and a half, and twenty-nine inches in 

 extent of wing. 



Though very shy, some pairs have fixed their nests in the 

 lofty trees of the gardens of the Tuileries and Luxembourg at 

 Paris. They show the same sense of security as domestic pigeons, 

 and as undismayed by the crowds of human beings which are 

 constantly passing under their eye. There they rear their young 

 without discovering any marks of uneasiness or fear. When, 

 however, they repair to the neighboring fields for food, they show 

 all the timidity which is so characteristic of the species. Their 

 food chiefly consists of acorns, beech-mast, and various berries and 

 grains If these cannot be obtained, under the influence of the 



Th; SmkooK 



